Trump Files Suit Against FBI Over Mar-a-Lago Search, Requests 'Special Master' to Review Seized Docs
21:27 GMT 22.08.2022 (Updated: 02:30 GMT 23.08.2022)
© AFP 2023 / GIORGIO VIERA
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The FBI raided Mar-a-Lago earlier this month using a search warrant that stated possible Espionage Act offenses concerning the improper handling of secret data as the rationale for the probe. The release of specific portions of the affidavit that supported the search warrant is currently being decided by a federal judge.
Donald Trump, a former US president, filed a lawsuit on Monday in response to the search of his Mar-a-Lago property two weeks ago.
In the request filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Trump's team claims the files were acquired under a "overbroad warrant" and asks the judge to appoint a special master to examine them. A note that Trump had his attorney deliver to a senior Justice Department attorney on August 11, just days after the search, is also included in the lawsuit.
"President Trump wants the Attorney General to know that he has been hearing from people all over the county about the raid. If there was one word to describe their mood, it is 'angry.' The heat is building up. The pressure is building up. Whatever I can do to take the heat down, to bring the pressure down, just let us know," the message stated, per the lawsuit.
Additionally, the filing asks for a court order mandating the return of any object taken beyond the parameters of the government's search warrant.
"President Trump, like all citizens, is protected by the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution," the filings said. "Property seized in violation of his constitutional rights must be returned forthwith."
The records taken from Mar-a-Lago - according to court documents - are "presumptively privileged" as presidential materials, and must be examined by a disinterested Special Master reviewer.
Trump's attorneys were initially notified by the government that it intended to evaluate the confiscated materials using a so-called "filter team." Trump's lawyers stated in the filings that, given the leader of the filter team is a subordinate of the case's chief prosecutor, their protocols do not guarantee that members of the prosecution team won't learn about privileged information.
22 August 2022, 20:06 GMT
Moreover, the document contains three questions that Trump addressed to the government and investigators "that any American citizen would ask under the circumstances."
"Why raid my home with a platoon of federal agents when I have voluntarily cooperated with your every request?" Trump asked. "What are you trying to hide from the public - given that you requested that l turn off all home security cameras, and even refused to allow my attorneys to observe what your agents were doing? Why have you refused to tell me what you took from my home?"
According to the filing, leaks from the government to favored media outlets have given rise to inconsistent and incorrect "justifications" for the political behavior of the FBI and Department of Justice.
"These unsupported 'justifications' by anonymous sources hint at a breakdown in communications between President Trump's representatives and the Government, or that there developed a need to obtain a search warrant," it said.
Earlier, in addition to claiming declassified sensitive materials had been properly stored at Mar-a-Lago, Trump denounced the raid as an attempt to use the US court system as a weapon against him.
On Saturday, he again criticized the government's action against him as "atrocities" and "unthinkable violations of freedom and the law." Trump pointed out that these events are not new and have been going on for years since he announced his intention to run for president in 2016.
"The law enforcement of our Country has become that of a Third World Nation, and I do not believe the people will stand for it — between Fraudulent Elections, Open Borders, Inflation, giving our Military to the Enemy, and so much more — how much are we all expected to take?" Trump wondered.
