Former President Donald Trump’s legal team filed a motion on Monday over this month’s raid at Trump’s private residence at Mar-a-Lago.
According to the motion filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Trump and his legal team are seeking an independent review of the records seized by the FBI during its “unprecedented” and “unnecessary” search of Mar-a-Lago earlier this month.
The former president said the motion is “strongly asserting [his 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.”
“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,'” Trump said in a statement Monday evening, adding: “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 also said that he and his legal team are “demanding that all items wrongfully taken from my home be IMMEDIATELY returned.”
“I will never stop fighting for the American people, our Country, and the Rule of Law. Make America Great Again!” he added.
The unprecedented search of Trump’s home comes as the investigation into his time in office and private business escalates. Any search of a private residence would have to be approved by a judge after the investigating law-enforcement agency demonstrated probable cause that a search was justified.
Former NYPD Commissioner Bernie Kerik issued a warning following the raid that the FBI required body cameras and issued a call for the House Judiciary Committee and Ranking Member Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan to subpoena those involved in the search.
“@Jim_Jordan … The FBI and USAG guidelines [require] all raids to be captured on body cams! @JudiciaryGOP needs to secure those ASAP!” Kerik tweeted.
Trump is the only former president to be raided by the FBI, including President Barack Obama, who Trump has alleged was a part of spying on his 2016 presidential campaign against Hillary Clinton.
