Trump seeks $100M in damages from DOJ for Mar-a-Lago search
The former president Trump has asked the Justice Department for $100 million damages following the search of Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. This is the latest of a series of lawsuits against the retrieval classified documents from his residence.
The administrative claim was filed last week, and the first report on it came out Monday. It was one day before two years of time had expired to seek damages.
The filing is reminiscent of many other court filings Trump has made and speeches he has given during his campaign condemning the search at his home and accusing the Justice Department political bias in their prosecution.
Trump’s house was searched, after he refused to comply with numerous requests for him to return documents in his home. During the search, investigators found over 300 records marked classified as well as documents from Trump’s tenure as president.
Trump has failed to challenge the search warrant for his house, which was approved in 2022 by a federal judge based in Florida.
The courts upheld the warrant, and also overturned a judge’s decision to appoint a special master for the review of the presidential records taken from Trump’s residence, ordering them to be returned to the Justice Department.
Cannon rejected Trump’s request for a Franks Hearing on the search at Mar-a-Lago. He determined that his legal team had not provided enough evidence for further investigation into whether the FBI used false or reckless information when preparing its affidavit. This hearing would have started the process to exclude evidence collected during the search at trial.
Cannon, however, did side with Trump when determining that Jack Smith, the special counsel, was appointed unlawfully. This matter is now before an appeals court.
After 180 days, the Justice Department will review the claim and then the matter can be brought before federal court.
The filing by Trump attorney Daniel Epstein stated that “the intrusion into the seclusion of President Trump, the abuse of the process by the Garland Department of Justice and Wray FBI and the subsequent malicious prosecuting are particularly egregious and show willful, wanting, oppressive and malicious intent on the part of the Department of Justice and FBI.”
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