Former President Donald Trump is planning to sue the federal government for $115 million over the 2022 search of his Mar-a-Lago estate, accusing the Department of Justice of unconstitutional “political persecution.”
Even though the search turned up hundreds of classified documents and led to his indictment on federal charges, Trump says prosecutors improperly targeted him in hopes of damaging his campaign to win back the White House.
“The subsequent malicious prosecution are particularly egregious, showing willful, wanton, oppressive, and malicious intent by the Department of Justice and FBI,” Daniel Epstein, a lawyer for Trump, wrote in a notice of claim filed with the government.
Trump is demanding $15 million in compensation for his legal costs, plus $100 million in punitive damages.
Trump accuses Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray of failing to implement normal procedures for getting back the documents in order to carry out the search and humiliate the Republican ex-president.
“Garland and Wray decided to stray from established protocol to injure President Trump,” Epstein wrote.
The filing sets the clock ticking on a 180-day period during which Trump and the government can seek to work out a settlement. If no deal is reached, a federal judge will hear the case in south Florida.
Trump admits taking the documents with him to his Florida estate after leaving the White House in January 2021, but claims he had the legal right to do so.
He returned some of the documents when hit with a subpoena to give them back.
Suspecting Trump was hiding more documents, the feds asked a judge to approve a search warrant for Mar-a-Lago, which was carried out on Aug. 22, 2022.
Garland appointed special counsel Jack Smith to investigate the case after Trump announced he would run for president again in 2024.
Trump was indicted on a string of charges accusing him of improperly retaining the documents and obstructing justice. Two Mar-a-Lago workers were also charged with moving boxes of sensitive documents to hide them from investigators and even Trump’s own defense attorney.
Judge Aileen Cannon recently dismissed the case on the grounds that Smith’s appointment was unconstitutional. The prosecution is appealing that decision to a higher court but it will likely wind up being decided by the Supreme Court.
