Trump Seeks to Block FBI from Reviewing Mar-a-Lago Documents

Facts

• Lawyers for Trump requested in a Mon. court filing that the FBI be prevented from continuing to review documents recovered earlier this month from the former president’s Mar-a-Lago home until a neutral “special master” is appointed to inspect the records.
• The filing — assigned to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon appointed to the bench by Trump — asks that the Dept. of Justice provide a more detailed property receipt outlining items seized during the Aug. 8 search, and that anything outside the scope of the warrant be returned.
• Trump’s suit accuses the federal government of violating his Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure with the raid, which is believed to be the first time the home of a former president was searched in connection with a criminal case.
• In a public statement related to the motion, Trump said he’s “now demanding that the Department of ‘Justice’ be instructed to immediately STOP the review of documents illegally seized from my home.”
• The search is part of a federal investigation into whether Trump illegally removed documents from the White House when he left office in Jan. 2021 after losing the presidential election to Biden.
• This comes as a letter from the National Archives to Trump’s lawyers disclosed Mon. night and released Tues., has revealed that Trump allegedly took over 700 pages of classified documents to Mar-a-Lago.

Sources: Al Jazeera, Reuters, CNBC, FOX News, Jerusalem Post, and New York Times.

Narratives

• Pro-Trump narrative as provided by FOX News. It’s unprecedented and absurd for the FBI to target a former president, especially when that former president is considering a run for office against the current administration. The affidavit underpinning the raid will eventually have to be made public, and the American people will hopefully then know the real reasons why Trump is under attack.
• Democratic narrative as provided by MSNBC. Federal law enforcement officials have acted in accordance with due process: They believe there’s evidence of a crime, so they consulted a judge, were granted, and then executed a search warrant. By inflaming tensions among Trump’s base and calling into question the FBI as an institution the GOP is taking the dangerous and indefensible position that Trump is above the law.