Former President Donald Trump is prepared to sue the U.S. Justice Department for $100 million over the Biden-Harris administration’s 2022 raid at Mar-a-Lago during the classified document case the department brought against Trump.
According to Fox News, Trump’s lawyers are arguing that the federal government’s raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property in Florida was conducted with “clear intent to engage in political persecution.” Trump’s lawyers claim that the raid, which they describe as “tortious conduct by the United States against President Trump,” represented an invasion of privacy, an abuse of process, and malicious prosecution.
Fox News reported that Daniel Epstein, a Trump attorney, filed a notice to sue the Justice Department, giving the department 180 days to respond with a resolution before the case moves to a federal court in the Southern District of Florida.
Epstein told Lydia Hu, a Fox Business correspondent, “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.”
Trump’s attorney claimed that the decisions made by the Biden-Harris administration’s Department of Justice and FBI regarding the August 2022 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.”
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According to Epstein, the actions taken by Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray were not based on “social, economic, and political policy,” were taken in “clear dereliction of constitutional principles, inconsistent standards,” and were taken with the “clear intent to engage in political persecution – not to advance good law enforcement practices.”
Following the Mar-a-Lago raid, Special Counsel Jack Smith was appointed to investigate the classified documents case. Smith charged Trump with 37 felony counts; however, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed Smith’s case against the former president last month, ruling that Smith was not lawfully appointed, according to Fox News.
“Garland and Wray should have never approved a raid and subsequent indictment of President Trump because the well-established protocol with former U.S. presidents is to use non-enforcement means to obtain records of the United States,” Epstein stated. “But notwithstanding the fact that the raid should have never occurred, Garland and Wray should have ensured their agents sought consent from President Trump, notified his lawyers, and sought cooperation.”
Epstein claimed that the attorney general and FBI director departed from “established protocol” in an attempt to “injure” the former president. As a result, Trump’s attorney concluded that the federal government “must pay punitive damages of $100 million.”
