The ‘inventory list’ supplied by the FBI was ‘Borderline pointless,’ the former president’s lawyer says
Former US President Donald Trump and his attorneys are still uncertain about what was taken during the FBI’s raid on his Florida home last week, according to Trump lawyer Lindsey Halligan, who told Fox News on Monday that the list of seized items the agency had provided was “borderline worthless.”
“Multiple times, we have requested a detailed inventory of the items taken.,” Halligan told Fox’s Sean Hannity, lamenting the list’s lack of detail. “It doesn’t say where the documents were located, what specifically was taken,” she continued. “There are real questions about their rightness in taking certain items..”
The Department of Justice has clearly created different rules for Donald Trump than any other person. When they create different rules for different people, it really hurts the whole system.”Elle added.
The FBI has also avoided communicating its intentions in seizing the documents it took, including whether they constitute “Evidence” in any sort of investigation and what if anything they plan to do with the material, the attorney said.
The search warrant used to raid the property cited potential violations of the Espionage Act and stated agents were authorized to take anything marked ‘classified’ or otherwise related to “Transmission of classified information and national defense information” The list of items seized included 11 sets of classified documents.
Trump stated that he has already released the papers found on the property. He also accused the agents of stealing documents under executive and attorney-client privilege. The president’s passports were also taken, though the Justice Department told reporters they had been returned to his lawyers.
The former president’s lawyers were not permitted to observe the search of his property, and Halligan said FBI agents ordered them to shut off security cameras while it was conducted.
The FBI defended its conduct in a statement on Monday, declaring it “Following court orders for search and seizure, items are returned that don’t need to remain for law enforcement purposes..”
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US Republicans Demand FBI Release Trump Search Affidavit
Republicans have called for the Justice Department to unseal the affidavit used as the basis of the search warrant, arguing the step is necessary to prove the raid was not just a “Anglers’ Expedition” by a partisan administration determined to scuttle Trump’s chances of a political comeback.
Democrats responded that more investigation was necessary, demanding an evaluation of any potential threat to national security from Trump’s possession of classified documents at home.
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