The Department of Justice has responded to former President Donald Trump‘s motion to have an independent review of the documents seized during the Federal Bureau of Investigation raid on Mar-a-Lago.
Trump’s legal team filed a motion on Monday seeking to have an independent review of the documents seized by the FBI in what they called an “unprecedented” and “unnecessary” raid of the former president’s home in Florida earlier this year, Fox News reported.
Trump’s attorneys said in the Monday motion they are seeking an order to appoint a special master to review the records obtained in the search.
That would block the further review of the materials by the government until the special master is appointed. This would also require that the Justice Department provide a detailed receipt of the property that was taken in order to return any item seized that was not within the scope of the warrant.
The former president said the motion is a way of asserting Trump’s rights, “including under the Fourth Amendment of our Constitution, regarding the unnecessary, unwarranted, and unAmerican Break-In by dozens of FBI agents, and others, of my home, Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida,” Fox News reported.
Trump said in a statement cited by Fox News, “[The FBI] demanded that the security cameras be turned off, a request we rightfully denied. They prevented my attorneys from observing what was being taken in the raid, saying ‘absolutely not.'”
“They took documents covered by attorney-client and executive privilege, which is not allowed. They took my passports. They even brought a ‘safe cracker’ and successfully broke into my personal safe, which revealed…nothing!” Trump said.
According to Fox News, Justice Department spokesman Anthony Coley reacted to Trump’s filing Monday in a statement saying, “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.”
This comes the same day news broke that a judge rejected the Department of Justice’s argument to keep the affidavit sealed on the Trump raid, calling it an “unprecedented,” move, according to Fox News.
Judge Bruce Reinhart said Monday that he would not keep the affidavit leading to the search under seal, citing the “intense public and historical interest.”
“The Government argues that even requiring it to redact portions of the Affidavit that could not reveal agent identities or investigative sources and methods imposes an undue burden on its resources and sets a precedent that could be disruptive and burdensome in future cases,” Reinhart wrote. “I do not need to reach the question of whether, in some other case, these concerns could justify denying public access; they very well might.”
The Justice Department allegedly has its so-called “taint” or “filter team” looking over the documents from the former president’s home in Florida, according to a Fox News report.
However, Trump’s attorneys commented on the “filter team,” saying that they “will not protect President Trump’s rights.”