Former United States President Donald Trump on Monday, 22 August, sued the US government over the raid conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at his Florida home a few weeks ago.
In his lawsuit, Trump has urged the court to prevent the bureau from reading seized documents until a special court official is assigned to review them, The Guardian reported.
The suit also "requires the government to provide a more detailed receipt for property and... to return any item seized that was not within the scope of the search warrant."
Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate was raided on 8 August by the FBI to look for official records and documents that the former president allegedly took from the White House when he left office.
'Raid Conducted After Finding Probable Cause': DOJ
The search was reportedly carried out under the Espionage Act and some material seized is believed to be related to nuclear weapons.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a statement that they would respond to Trump's lawsuit.
"The search warrant at Mar-a-Lago was authorised by a federal court upon the required finding of probable cause," DOJ spokesperson Anthony Coley said, as per BBC.
The 27-page lawsuit was filed in a district court in Florida's West Palm Beach before a judge whom Trump himself appointed in 2020.
The lawsuit also mentioned that "President Donald J Trump is the clear frontrunner in the 2024 Republican Presidential Primary and in the 2024 General Election, should he decide to run."
It also said that law enforcement is a "shield" that protects Americans and cannot be used as a "weapon" for political purposes.
Meanwhile, prosecutors in the DOJ refused to release details about the search warrant used by the FBI to raid Trump's Florida home.
It stated that such a move could cause "irreparable damage" to its investigation.
"If disclosed, the affidavit would serve as a roadmap to the government’s ongoing investigation," the DOJ stated, "providing specific details about its direction and likely course, in a manner that is highly likely to compromise future investigative steps."
(With inputs from The Guardian, CNN, and BBC.)
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