Donald Trump Asks Federal Court To Temporarily Block Investigations Of Items Seized From His Home By The FBI

Someone Donald Trump Mar-a-Lago in Florida. (Wikimedia Commons/The White House)

JAKARTA - Former United States President Donald Trump on Monday asked a federal court to temporarily block the FBI from examining items seized two weeks ago from his Florida home until a special master can be appointed to oversee the review.

Trump's motion, filed in West Palm Beach, Florida, federal court, also demands that the US Department of Justice provide him with a more detailed property receipt, outlining items the FBI seized from his Mar-a-Lago home during the Aug. to return any item outside the scope of a search warrant.

"Politics cannot be allowed to influence the administration of justice," the filing said.

"Law enforcement is a shield that protects Americans. It cannot be used as a weapon for political ends," he added.

A special master may sometimes be appointed in very sensitive cases, to examine seized materials and ensure, investigators are not reviewing privileged information.

For example, when FBI agents searched the homes of former Trump attorneys Michael Cohen and Rudy Giuliani, the US Attorney's office in Manhattan requested the appointment of a special master.

Trump's request was addressed to US District Judge Aileen M. Cannon, whom Trump appointed as judge. A Justice Department spokesman said prosecutors would submit their response in court.

Donald Trump. (Wikimedia Commons/Gage Skidmore)

"The August 8 search warrant at Mar-a-Lago was approved by a federal court after finding the necessary possible causes," said Justice Department spokesman Anthony Coley.

Meanwhile, Judge Bruce Reinhart, of U.S. District Court in West Palm Beach and who approved the warrant, is considering whether to ask the Justice Department to release an edited copy of the affidavit, which lays out evidence of possible causes for the search on Donald Trump's home.

The Justice Department at a court hearing last week opposed the affidavit's release, saying it would provide a 'roadmap' for its investigation and possibly cool witness cooperation.

In a court order filed Monday, Reinhart said he agreed it was a legitimate issue, but said he wanted to explore whether there was a "lesser alternative to sealing the entire document."

The Justice Department has until noon Thursday, to provide Reinhart under seal with edited copies of documents he could potentially release to the public.

The Mar-a-Lago search on August 8 marked a significant escalation in one of the many federal and state investigations facing Trump, related to his tenure and in private business.

After Trump and his allies complained in the media that the search was politically motivated, US Attorney General Merrick Garland asked the court to release a copy of the search warrant and property receipt containing the seized items.

The US government has recovered more than 300 classified documents from Mar-a-Lago, including material from the CIA, the National Security Agency and the FBI, the New York Times reported Monday, citing several people briefed on the matter.

The items included material recovered by the National Archives in January, as well as documents provided by Trump aides to the Justice Department in June, the newspaper reported.

The Justice Department did not immediately comment, nor did the former president's aides.

The search is part of a federal investigation into whether Trump illegally deleted documents when he left the White House in January 2021, after losing the presidential election to Joe Biden.

During the search, the FBI seized 11 sets of classified material at Mar-a-Lago, some of which were labeled 'highly classified', the highest-level classification reserved for the most stringent US national security information, viewable only at special government facilities.

Last week, Trump released an August 15 email he received from Jay Bratt, the Justice Department's head of counter-intelligence, indicating he had deployed a team of "filter" agents tasked with sifting through privileged material.