According to a recent report, former President Donald Trump is preparing to file a lawsuit against the United States Justice Department for $100 million in damages over the government’s raid on his Mar-a-Lago property in 2022.
The report comes from Fox News, which obtained a Trump memo that claimed “tortious conduct by the United States against President Trump.”
FBI agents stormed the Palm Beach, Florida, home on Aug. 8, 2022, as the agency looked to obtain classified documents that the former president had taken with him after leaving office in January 2021 and prosecutors alleged were improperly retained.
However, Trump and his legal team are arguing that the raid was done with “clear intent to engage in political persecution.”
Trump and his legal team are intending to sue the Justice Department for its conduct during the FBI’s raid.
Special Counsel Jack Smith worked to prosecute the former president over his improper retention of the classified documents. Smith brought 37 felony counts against Trump over his handling of the documents, including willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and false statements.
The former president has maintained he had every right to have the documents in his possession, pleading not guilty to all counts.
Last month, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed Smith’s case against Trump, ruling that Smith was unlawfully appointed and funded, citing the Appointments Clause in the Constitution.
Daniel Epstein, legal representation for the former president, filed a notice to sue the Justice Department, putting the department on the clock, as it has 180 days from the date of receipt to respond to Epstein’s notice and come to a resolution.
If a resolution is not met, Trump’s case will move to federal court in the Southern District of Florida.
The filing claims that the decisions made by the FBI and DOJ when it came to the raid were “inconsistent with protocols requiring the consent of an investigative target, disclosure to that individual’s attorneys, and the use of the local U.S. Attorney’s Office.”
Epstein goes on to argue in the filing that the decisions made to raid Mar-a-Lago were “clear dereliction of constitutional principles, inconsistent standards as applied to” the former president and a “clear intent to engage in political persecution – not to advance good law enforcement practices.”
“What President Trump is doing here is not just standing up for himself – he is standing up for all Americans who believe in the rule of law and believe that you should hold the government accountable when it wrongs you,” Epstein told Fox News.