Claiming in a court filing that he had been targeted for political reasons, Trump demanded that a "special master" be named to review the more than two dozen boxes of files taken in the unprecedented August 8 raid
Donald Trump was suspected of illegally taking highly classified documents and official records of his administration from the White House that he did not have the right to possess and had refused to turn over. Image: Ronda Churchill / AFP
Washington, United States: Former US president Donald Trump filed a lawsuit Monday urging a court to name an independent party to screen files that the FBI seized from his Florida home for materials protected by personal privilege.
Claiming in a court filing that he had been targeted for political reasons, Trump demanded that a "special master" be named to review the more than two dozen boxes of files taken in the unprecedented August 8 raid.
The special master — who would not act at the direction of the Justice Department, which ordered the raid — would evaluate the documents and determine which ones Trump could retain as "privileged," or protected from use in investigations.
"The Mar-a-Lago break-in, search and seizure was illegal and unconstitutional, and we are taking all actions necessary to get the documents back," Trump said in a statement. "They took documents covered by attorney-client and executive privilege," he added.