“Former President Donald Trump filed a motion requesting an independent review of the documents seized from Mar-a-Lago during an FBI raid on his home earlier this month.
“Law enforcement is a shield that protects Americans. It cannot be used as a weapon for political purposes,” Trump’s motion said. “Therefore, we seek judicial assistance in the aftermath of an unprecedented and unnecessary raid on President Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida.”
Trump’s Motion for Judicial Oversight And Additional Relief requests the court appoint a Special Master, prohibit the FBI from further review of the seized documents until the Special Master is appointed, order the government to release a more detailed property receipt, and return any item seized that was not within the search warrant’s scope.
The property receipt released shortly after the Mar-a-Lago raid only mentions nondescript items, including “Miscellaneous Top Secret Documents,” “Leatherbound box of documents,” and “Various classified/TS/SCI documents.”
Trump’s motion comes just days after he announced he would file a Fourth Amendment motion “concerning the illegal Break-In” of Mar-a-Lago.
“My rights, together with the rights of all Americans, have been violated at a level rarely seen before in our Country,” Trump said on Friday.
In a statement after Trump’s attorneys filed the motion, Trump noted the FBI wanted Mar-a-Lago staff to turn off the estate’s security cameras during the raid. Trump also noted the FBI took his passports and broke into his personal safe with a “safe cracker.”
Trump also laid to rest claims that the FBI seized any classified documents.
“We are now demanding that the Department of ‘Justice’ be instructed to immediately STOP the review of documents illegally seized from my home,” Trump said. “ALL documents have been previously declassified.”
“We are further demanding that the DOJ be forced to turn over a REAL, without ‘plants,’ inventory of my property that was taken and disclose where that property is now located,” Trump continued. “We are demanding that all items wrongfully taken from my home be IMMEDIATELY returned.”
“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, which we would have given to them without the necessity of the despicable raid of my home, so that I can give them to the National Archives until they are required for the future Donald J. Trump Presidential Library and Museum.”
“I will never stop fighting for the American people, our Country, and the Rule of Law,” Trump concluded. “Make America Great Again!”
The case was assigned to Judge Aileen M. Cannon, a Trump appointee, of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
The case is Trump v. United States Government, No. 22-cv-81294-AMC in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. (Breitbart, 8/22/2022) (Archive)