Former President Donald Trump is readying a $100 million lawsuit that accuses AG Merrick Garland and FBI Director Chris Wray of running a ‘malicious prosecution’ against him.
The suit, which comes two years after the 2022 search that yielded a trove of 300 documents marked ‘classified’ from Trump’s Florida club, comes after Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the case brought by special counsel Jack Smith against Trump.
The suit claims a ‘clear intent to engage in political persecution’ against the former president.
The search, which occurred while Trump was away, comes from actions ‘rooted in intrusion upon seclusion, malicious prosecution, and abuse of process resulting from the August 8, 2022 raid of his and his family’s home at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach Florida.’ according to the suit prepared by Trump lawyer Daniel Epstein.
The actions of the DOJ and FBI are ‘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,’ he writes, in a document obtained by Fox News.
Trump has personal inveighed against the search for years, even while battling Smith inside a federal courthouse in Florida.
Trump has a history of filing headline-grabbing lawsuits that help underline his political points. Last year a judge dismissed his $100 million lawsuit against the New York Times and his niece Mary Trump.
Trump has long accused President Joe Biden of driving ‘witch hunt’ probes against him, and his latest suit identifies both AG Merrick Garland, a Biden nominee, and FBI Director Christopher Wray, a Trump nominee.
Former President Donald Trump is suing the Justice Department for $100 million, claiming a ‘clear intent to engage in political persecution’
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The two men’s decisions are ”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 writes.
The suit says the government should have negotiated with Trump rather than searching his residence, although the National Archives had engaged in in back-and-forth with Trump lawyers for months over the location of materials moved from the White House during Trump’s final weeks in office.
‘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 writes.
‘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,’ the suit continues.
Trump has long fumed about the FBI’s August 2022 raid on Mar-a-Lago
The FBI uncovered a trove of boxes containing materials marked ‘classified’ at the Florida club
The White House and DOJ have long denied that politics drove the probe. Smith, who was appointed by Garland to oversee the case, defended the indictment last summer after it was handed down by a grand jury amid accusations of political interference.
‘We have one set of laws in this country and they apply to everyone,’ he said. ‘Adhering to and applying the laws is what determines the outcome of an investigation. Nothing more, nothing less.’
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The suit comes in the heat of a political campaign where Trump has complained about being forced to mount a new campaing against Vice President Kamala Harris, after Biden stepped back from his campaing amid a Democratic pressure effort.
Cannon’s ruling, which followed Trump’s argument that Smith’s appointment was unconstitutional, prompted an appeal by Smith’s team of prosecutors. It sidelined the case that was once thought to be the most politically perilous for Trump of the four criminal cases he was facing before the November elections.
Smith last week filed for an extension in the January 6 case being tried in Washington, D.C., which has also delayed by a Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity.
‘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.
During the Florida case, Trump’s team did not succeed in getting Judge Cannon to toss out the evidence seized, although it did persuade her to appoint a special master to pour over the materials, which had the effect of delaying the case.