The former U.S. President, Donald Trump, has asked a court to halt the Justice Departmentʼs investigation into files seized from his “Mar-a-Lago” residence in Florida.
This is reported by the BBC.
In addition, Trumpʼs legal team is asking for an independent counsel to be appointed to oversee the documents seized by FBI agents earlier this month. Trump is also demanding through the court a full list of exactly what was taken from his property and is asking the government to return anything that was not covered by the search warrant. According to the FBI, on August 8, eleven sets of classified files were seized from the Trump estate in Florida.
The lawyers accuse the investigative department of the Ministry of Justice of wanting to find "politically useful documents or to support efforts aimed at preventing President Trump from running again."
"The shocking acts of aggression at “Mar-a-Lago” by approximately two dozen FBI agents were without an understanding of the suffering it will cause the majority of Americans," Trumpʼs lawyers stated.
The New York Times reported that agents seized more than 300 classified documents from Trump, including materials from the CIA, the National Security Agency and the FBI.
Donald Trump is under investigation for possible mishandling of documents. US presidents are required by law to hand over all their documents and emails to the National Archives, and the FBI is investigating whether Trump mishandled the documents by moving them from the White House to “Mar-a-Lago” after he left office in January 2021 year Trump has previously claimed that he did nothing wrong, and that all the documents he took from the White House had already been declassified by himself.
- On August 9, Trump reported that his house in Florida was searched by FBI agents and the safe was broken into. The media reported that the search was related to an investigation into Trumpʼs misappropriation of White House documents that he could have taken to “Mar-a-Lago”.
- Earlier, the National Archives said that Trump took 15 boxes of presidential records to his residence in Florida. The boxes allegedly contained "classified national security information" and official correspondence between Trump and other leaders.