Former President Trump and his legal team requested an independent examination of the information collected by the FBI during its extraordinary and unnecessary search on Mar-a-Lago earlier this month.
Trump's legal team said that the decision to investigate his private house two months before the 2022 midterm elections was motivated by political considerations intended at undermining the Republican Party's top voice, President Trump.
Trump Seeks Independent Review of FBI Mar-a-Lago Seized Docs
According to a motion filed Monday evening in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Trump and his legal team are seeking an order appointing a special master to review the records obtained during the search; prohibiting the government from further reviewing seized materials until a special master is appointed; requiring the Justice Department to provide a more detailed receipt for the property; and requiring the government to return any item seized that was not returned.
Trump stated Monday evening that the move is a forceful assertion of his rights, including under the Fourth Amendment of our Constitution, against the unjustified, unwarranted, and unAmerican break-in of my house, Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida, by hundreds of FBI agents and others, according to Fox News.
The complaint revolves around constitutional grounds regarding the right to be free from excessive search and seizure, as well as some of Trump's long-held grievances. The unexpected raid is followed by a lengthy preamble detailing Trump and former first lady Melania Trump's move to Mar-a-Lago following the 2020 election.
The suit details a June 3 visit by DOJ officer Jay Bratt, which occurred during a fight over federal papers housed at Mar-a-Lago. Bratt and a group of officials, escorted by two Secret Service personnel, entered a storage room where archive records were kept at one point.
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Suit Claims Court Won't Protect Trump's Rights
Trump's attorneys brought the claim two weeks after the search after the government's case had already been heard and media lawyers had previously sparred with the government about the affidavit that preceded the raid.
In an order issued Monday, a US Magistrate court handling the case stated that Trump had not intervened in the case. To argue that the government's search violated Trump's constitutional rights, the lawsuit highlights his continuous involvement in American politics, citing several opinion surveys.
In the RealClear Politics polling average, Donald Trump leads Joe Biden by 3 percentage points, a margin that is inside the error range of many surveys. The petition also raises the prospect that Trump would argue in court that the recovered papers, including those at the highest levels of government classification, were declassified by him.
According to the lawsuit, an internal DOJ "taint squad" or "filter team" would not adequately safeguard Trump's rights. Trump also addressed the litigation in a Save America PAC statement. He branded it a unnecessary, unauthorized, and unAmerican break-in of his house, Mar-a-Lago, by hundreds of FBI agents and others, Daily Mail reported.
The federal magistrate judge who is deciding whether to reveal the affidavit that led to the issuance of the search warrant on Trump's residence said Monday that although he feels the public interest supports disclosing the document, prosecutors' redactions might render it meaningless.
Judge Bruce Reinhart's ruling builds on a bench order issued last week, which allowed the Justice Department until Thursday to suggest redactions it believes are essential to safeguard its continuing investigation into the former president, as per The Hill.
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