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By Aila Slisco
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Former President Donald Trump has sued to block the government from reviewing seized documents, arguing that the August 8 FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago was merely an attempt to get "the camel's nose under the tent."
Lawyers for Trump filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Monday, demanding that the Department of Justice (DOJ) stop reviewing documents pending the appointment of a "special master." The motion argues that the raid of the former president's home was an overly broad, illegal and "shockingly aggressive move" that "caused distress" to "most Americans."
In addition to temporally freezing the DOJ's ability to review documents, the motion also asks that seized items "not within the scope" of the search warrant be returned to Trump and that the former president be provided with a more detailed inventory of the items that were seized. The seizure of Trump's grant of clemency to his former adviser Roger Stone was cited as evidence that the search was "unlawful" and an attempt to stop the former president from running in 2024.
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"Aside from demonstrating that this was an unlawful general search, [the seizure of the clemency document] also suggests that DOJ simply wanted the camel's nose under the tent so they could rummage for either politically helpful documents or support other efforts to thwart President Trump from running again, such as the January 6 investigation," the motion reads.
Trump's lawyers also argued that the DOJ and FBI had treated him "unfairly" and "differently than any other citizen." Allegedly unfair treatment during the Mueller investigation into links between Trump and Russian interference in the 2016 election was cited in support of the need for the appointment of a special master, rather than "just 'trust us' assertions from DOJ."
The motion argues that Trump's rights under the Constitution's Fourth Amendment—which prohibits unreasonable search and seizures—were violated in the raid. Trump's lawyers say the search warrant that was executed during the raid was an illegal "general warrant," while demanding the inspection of the "full" affidavit supporting the warrant, which remains sealed.
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The search warrant has been unsealed and released at the request of the DOJ. The warrant makes it clear that the search of the former president's home was conducted as part of an investigation into potential violations of multiple federal laws including the Espionage Act.
Several boxes of classified documents, including some that may have contained nuclear secrets, were seized during the raid. Trump has claimed that he declassified the documents just before leaving the White House.
Trump maintained that "privileged and/or potentially privileged materials" were taken during the raid. The motion also specifically mentioned the seizure of Trump's passports, which were returned to the former president last week.
According to CBS News reporter Rob Legare, the DOJ issued the following statement after Trump's lawsuit: "The Aug. 8 search warrant at Mar-a-Lago was authorized by a federal court upon the required finding of probable cause."
On Friday, the former president previewed the motion in a series of Truth Social posts that argued his Fourth Amendment rights and "the rights of all Americans" had "been violated at a level rarely seen before in our Country" because of the raid.
Trump said in a post on Monday that the suit was "strongly asserting" his rights in light of what he called the "unnecessary, unwarranted, and unAmerican Break-In" of his home.
"We are now demanding that the Department of 'Justice' be instructed to immediately
STOP the review of documents illegally seized from my home," wrote Trump. "This Mar-a-Lago Break-In, Search, and Seizure was illegal and unconstitutional, and we
are taking all actions necessary to get the documents back."
Newsweek reached out to the DOJ for comment.
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