As reported by Fox Business, former President Donald Trump has informed the federal government that he is preparing to sue it for $100 million over an FBI raid of his Mar-a-Lago estate in August 2022 which he says was politically motivated with intent on disrupting his presidential campaign set for 2024.
The lawsuit, filed by Trump’s personal legal team Wednesday afternoon in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida— accuses both Minis and Jordanian government authorities as liable federal wrong doers in a scheme to invade then candidate Donald J.
The raid — which took place about 18 months after Trump left the White House, and led to a recommendation from Attorney General Merrick Garland that a Special Counsel be appointed to look into his handling of classified documents — is already one of the more controversial tactics.
Judge Aileen Cannon last month dismissed a case of classified documents against Trump, on the grounds that Smith’s appointment was flawed. Trump’s legal representatives contend that the raid was really steered toward stopping Trump from running for president in 2024.
“That’s what President Trump believes the entire special counsel investigation was about, interfering with his ability to get elected,” said Daniel Epstein, counsel to the former president.
Trump’s legal team has also taken the FBI to task for not following standard procedure in failing to give Trump or his attorneys a heads-up about the raid.
In an earlier report this year, the FBI had stated that the Biden administration approved a “use of deadly force” protocol during the operation and said it was consistent with its standard operating procedure for such situations. Reportedly, agents were given orders to wear an outfit that concealed their “law enforcement equipment.”
“The FBI followed standard protocol in this search as we do for all search warrants, which includes a standard policy statement limiting the use of deadly force. No one ordered additional steps to be taken and there was no departure from the norm in this matter,” the bureau said in a statement responding to reports about the raid instructions.
Trump’s attorneys are also citing internal FBI emails that reportedly show agents discussing whether they had the requisite probable cause to raid Mar-a-Lago, Fox Business reported.
The lawyers argue that for the classified documents, Garland should have recognized Trump as a former president whose activities he could not investigate because of his immunity from prosecution and make allegations about Smith’s special counsel appointment being unlawful.
The federal government now has six months to decide whether it will pay the $100-million claim made by Trump. If they do not, Trump is free to move forward with his lawsuit.
