Trump filed a lawsuit arguing DOJ should stop reviewing materials from Mar-a-Lago until a 'special master' is appointed

• Trump's team filed a lawsuit asking a judge to stop the DOJ from combing through materials seized from Mar-a-Lago.
• The lawsuit requested the appointment of a special master "to protect the integrity of privileged documents."

Donald Trump urged a federal judge on Monday to stop the Justice Department from reviewing materials seized in the Mar-a-Lago raid, arguing in a new lawsuit that the court should appoint a so-called special master to "protect the integrity of privileged documents" found at the former president's South Florida home.

In a court filing, Trump's lawyers also demanded that the Justice Department provide a more detailed inventory of items the FBI removed from Mar-a-Lago during an August 8 search that immediately ratcheted up the former president's legal jeopardy.

Trump's lawsuit opened a new front in his attack on the Justice Department in the aftermath of the FBI's extraordinary search of Mar-a-Lago, a raid the former president's lawyers described in their lawsuit as "unprecedented and unnecessary."

The suit opened with claims that the search was politically motivated and identified Trump as "the clear frontrunner in the 2024 Republican Presidential Primary and in the 2024 General Election, should he decide to run."

"Politics cannot be allowed to impact the administration of justice," Trump's lawyers wrote.

In the 27-page lawsuit, Trump's lawyers said the Justice Department had informed them that privileged or potentially privileged materials were among the records FBI agents removed from the former president's Palm Beach estate. Trump's legal team asked Judge Aileen Cannon to forbid the Justice Department from continuing its review of records until she selects a court-appointed outsider — known as a special master — to sift out privileged materials.

"This step- which the Government itself has requested in cases involving the seizure of privileged and/or potentially privileged materials- is needed to preserve the sanctity of executive communications and other privileged materials," Trump's lawyers argued, adding that FBI agents seized privileged materials "suggests the need for a careful review process."

Just days after the Mar-a-Lago search, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that the Justice Department would ask a magistrate judge to unseal the search warrant authorizing the raid of Mar-a-Lago and the manifest of items seized. In announcing the unusual move, Garland pointed to Trump's public statements about the raid, including his confirmation that the FBI was searching his South Florida home.

Trump did not object, and by week's end, Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart unsealed court records showing that the search was related to possible violations of the Espionage Act and laws governing the handling of government documents.

According to court documents, the feds recovered more than a dozen boxes of government records from Mar-a-Lago, some of which contained classified and top secret material. They also seized binders of photos, a handwritten note, and the executive grant of clemency for Trump's longtime ally Roger Stone.

In the lawsuit Monday, the Trump legal team described Garland's press conference as "deeply troubling" and claimed that it "clearly suggests that the decision to raid Mar-a-Lago, a mere 90 days before the 2022 midterm elections, involved political calculations aimed at diminishing the leading voice in the Republican party, President Trump."

The former president also put out a statement announcing the motion, and described the raid as "unnecessary, unwarranted, and unAmerican."

"We are now demanding that the Department of 'Justice' be instructed to immediately STOP the review of documents illegally seized from my home," the statement said. It added: "ALL documents have been previously declassified," a dubious claim that more than a dozen former Trump White House aides have described as "complete fiction."

Garland's top spokesperson Anthony Coley put out a statement shortly after Monday's lawsuit was filed, saying the "search warrant at Mar-a-Lago was authorized by a federal court upon the required finding of probable cause."

"The Department is aware of this evening's motion," Coley said. "The United States will file its response in court."

Peter Zeidenberg, a longtime former federal prosecutor, told Insider on Monday that he believes the department's investigation into Trump's handling of the documents is "the most direct and immediate threat by far" that the former president faces.

Trump is also at the center of other federal and state criminal investigations, including the department's sprawling Capitol riot investigation, and investigations in New York and Georgia into his business practices and his allies' efforts to overturn the election results.

"The classified-documents case is an easy one," one lawyer familiar with the Trump team's thought process recently told Insider. "It's open and shut. He took an administrative issue and turned it into a full-blown criminal case."

They added: "He should be worried about all these investigations. I think he's a target of all of them, and I think he'll get indicted."