New Delhi

The FBI has been reviewing documents that were retrieved from Donald Trump's Florida mansion earlier this month. On Monday, attorneys for the former US president requested that the FBI suspend its review of the documents so that an impartial special master can be appointed to examine the data.

Advertisment

The request was contained in a federal lawsuit, the first from Trump's legal team in the two weeks following the search, which broadsides the FBI investigation into the finding of secret documents at Mar-a-Lago and foreshadows arguments his attorneys will likely make as the investigation develops.

It comes as The New York Times reported that since Trump left office, the government has retrieved more than 300 documents marked classified from Mar-a-Lago, including more than 150 that were found by the National Archives in January and were a contributing factor in the criminal probe.

The 8 August search, during which the FBI claimed to have retrieved 11 sets of secret papers from Mar-a-Lago, is described as a "shockingly aggressive move" in the lawsuit. Additionally, it claims that the search is excessively broad, that Trump is entitled to a more thorough explanation of the documents that were taken from the house, and that the FBI and Justice Department have long treated him "unfairly."

Advertisment

“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” at Mar-a-Lago.

Also read | US legislators introduce bill to ease news media negotiations with Google, Facebook

Trump claimed that "ALL documents have been previously declassified" in a separate statement, but he has not offered any proof to back up that assertion. He further claimed that the data had been "illegally seized from my house." In a succinct three-sentence statement, the Justice Department argued in opposition, pointing out that the search had been approved by a federal judge after the FBI had demonstrated probable cause that a crime had been committed.

Advertisment

The motion asks for the appointment of an independent special master who would be entrusted with reviewing the documents retrieved from Mar-a-Lago and excluding those that fall under the presidential privilege, a legal doctrine that allows presidents to keep some communications from being made public.

(With inputs from agencies)

Also WATCH | Another US delegation in Taiwan amid soaring tensions with China