Donald Trump Asks Court to Appoint ‘Special Master’ to Review Docs Taken During FBI Search

The FBI searched Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate on Aug. 8

Donald Trump is seeking to block the Department of Justice from “further review” of documents taken during the FBI’s search of his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on Aug. 8 until a “Special Master” is appointed.

In papers filed in the U.S. District Court’s Southern District of Florida and obtained by CNBC on Monday, the former president, through his counsel, asks that the government not be allowed to look at the documents until then.

A representative for Trump did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

His lawyers call out the “shockingly aggressive move” when roughly two dozen FBI agents searched Trump’s home, suggesting that it is a political move against Trump amid his possible bid for president in the upcoming 2024 race.

They accuse the government of refusing to “provide even the most basic information about what was taken, or why,” and said that the information they did provide sparks concern over Fourth Amendment rights — which protects citizens from unreasonable searches of their homes, documents, and possessions.

The filing says that the government told Trump’s lawyers that “privileged and/or potentially privileged documents” were seized, but specifics of what exactly was taken have yet to be provided.

“Significantly, the Government has refused to provide President Trump with any reason for the unprecedented, general search of his home,” the complaint says, noting Attorney General Merrick Garland’s motion to unseal the search warrant.

The FBI executed the search amid the National Archives and Records Administration’s (NARA) attempt to recover documents that were potentially at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence, which is where he returned after leaving the White House at the end of his presidency, per the filing.

Arguing that the documents seized were created when Trump was president, his lawyers state that they are ” ‘presumptively privileged’ until proven otherwise,” and a Special Master is the only one who can protect their “sanctity.”

The filing also requests for the government to provide detailed inventory on the property seized and for any items that weren’t related to the search to be returned.

In a statement shared via the Truth Social app after the filing, Trump said, “They 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!”

He continued, “We are now demanding that the Department of ‘Justice’ be instructed to immediately STOP the review of documents illegally seized from my home. ALL documents have been previously declassified. We are demanding the appointment of a SPECIAL MASTER to oversee the handling of the materials taken in the raid.”

He also wants the DOJ to give a “REAL” breakdown of what was taken and where those items are now, claiming in part that the search “was illegal and unconstitutional.”

[via]