Trump seeks $100M in damages from DOJ for Mar-a-Lago search
Former President Trump is seeking $100 million in damages from the Justice Department following the search of his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Fla., the latest in a string of challenges to the retrieval of classified records from his home.
The administrative claim, filed last week and first reported Monday, was made a day before the two-year window for seeking damages expired.
The filing echoes numerous other court filings and campaign speeches Trump has made condemning the search of his home, accusing the Justice Department of political bias in its prosecution.
Trump’s home was searched after he was asked numerous times to return the records in his home, including defying a subpoena for the documents. Investigators ultimately found more than 300 records with classified markings during the search, as well as other records from Trump’s time as president.
Trump has already made several failed challenges to the search warrant on his home, which was approved by a Florida-based federal judge in 2022.
A review of that warrant was upheld by the courts, and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals also reversed a decision by Judge Aileen Cannon after she appointed a special master to review the presidential records collected from Trump’s home, ordering their return to the Justice Department.
Cannon also rejected a bid by Trump for what’s known as a Franks hearing on the search of Mar-a-Lago, determining his legal team failed to supply enough evidence to further investigate whether the FBI included false or reckless information in its affidavit for the warrant. Such a hearing would have kicked off the process of excluding evidence gathered during the search from being used at trial.
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Cannon did, however, side with Trump in determining that special counsel Jack Smith was unlawfully appointed, a matter now before the appeals court.
The Justice Department has 180 days to review the claim, after which the matter could proceed in federal court.
“The intrusion into President Trump’s seclusion, the abuse of process by the Garland Department of Justice and Wray FBI, and the subsequent malicious prosecution are particularly egregious, showing willful, wanton, oppressive, and malicious intent by the Department of Justice and FBI,” Trump attorney Daniel Epstein wrote in the filing.
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