Former President Donald Trump is escalating his fight over the documents that were confiscated from his home by the Justice Department.
Lawyers for Trump have asked a federal judge to halt the FBI's review of the documents that were taken from his Florida estate earlier this month until a neutral special master can be appointed to inspect the records.
Trump's legal team filed a 27-page motion Monday for an independent special master, usually a retired judge, to review all of the documents and identify any that don't fall under the search warrant or are protected by the executive or attorney-client privilege. Executive privilege is a principle that permits presidents to withhold certain communications from public disclosure.
The request was included in a federal lawsuit, the first filing by Trump's legal team in the two weeks since the search, that takes broad aim at the FBI investigation into the discovery of classified records at Mar-a-Lago and that foreshadows arguments his lawyers are expected to make as the probe proceeds.
Several media reports claim Trump had more than 300 classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
One hundred and fifty documents were returned to the National Archives in January. Another batch was turned over to the Justice Department in May. The rest were seized in the raid on the 45th president's home on Aug. 8.
As CBN News reported, at least 30 federal agents spent more than nine hours searching Trump's Mar-a-Lago home, reportedly removing more than 12 boxes of documents.
The lawsuit calls the search a "shockingly aggressive move" and attacks the search warrant as overly broad. It contends that Trump is entitled to a more detailed description of the records seized from the home and argues the FBI and the Justice Department have long treated him "unfairly."
"Law enforcement is a shield that protects America. It cannot be used as a weapon for political purposes," the lawyers wrote Monday. "Therefore, we seek judicial assistance in the aftermath of an unprecedented and unnecessary raid."
Trump has said the FBI "illegally seized" the papers, arguing that "ALL documents have been previously declassified."
Justice Department spokesman Anthony Coley responded to Trump's filing with a three-sentence statement.
"The Aug. 8 search warrant at Mar-a-Lago was authorized by a federal court upon the required finding of probable cause. The Department is aware of this evening's motion. The United States will file its response in court," the full statement said.
The Department of Justice has until Thursday at 12:00 pm to deliver a redacted version of the affidavit on which the warrant was based.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart acknowledged the redactions could be so extensive as to render it useless. But he said he continued to believe it should not remain sealed in its entirety because of the "intense" public interest in the investigation.
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