The foundation has been set by former President Donald Trump to file a crippling lawsuit against the federal government and charge the Justice Department of “political persecution” in connection with its historic raid on Mar-a-Lago in August 2022.
Attorneys for the Republican leader claim in a memo obtained by Fox News that there has been “tortious conduct by the United States against President Trump,” leading to the filing of 37 felony counts by special counsel Jack Smith. In his plea deal, Trump said that any sensitive materials he had in his possession during the search had been declassified in accordance with the Presidential Records Act. False statements, conspiracy to impede justice, and deliberate retention of information related to national defense were among the charges. The Justice Department has 180 days to file a response and seek a settlement after Trump attorney Daniel Epstein filed the notice of intent to sue. If a resolution is not reached, the matter may be heard by the U.S. Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Former President Donald Trump has laid the groundwork to launch a “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 Business’ Lydia Hu.
The entire lawsuit was dismissed by Florida U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon last month, which caused a significant upheaval for Smith because it followed the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling that granted presidents complete immunity from official acts performed while in office. But the defense successfully argued that Smith was improperly appointed, and the court agreed, citing other cases that demonstrated how ambiguous special counsel appointments had been for many years. This led to the dismissal of the case. “Special Counsel Smith’s appointment violates the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution,” Judge Cannon stated in her ruling. Smith’s use of a “permanent indefinite appropriate also violates the Appropriations Clause,” she continued, but “given the dismissal on Appointments Clause grounds, the Court need not address the proper remedy for the funding violation.”
Judge Cannon’s earlier summer order to remove redactions from case-related information, some of which revealed that the Justice Department colluded with the U.S. National Archives (NARA) in advance of the raid, was a benefit for Trump’s legal team. A representative of NARA who took part in the plot remarked that lawyers for President Trump were not included in the conversations, which was a blatant departure from past practice. If verified, it would support Epstein’s claim that the Justice Department improperly singled out President Trump prior to the raid and handled the document collection outside of its regular procedures. “One of Biden’s senior White House attorneys colluded with NARA attorney Stern to evade the Presidential Records Act’s requirements for notifying the holder of records, Trump. This is a real criminal plot, right now. At the time, Julie Kelly was a conservative investigative writer for X.
A few months prior to the attempted assassination, President Trump utilized the information that the FBI had approved the use of lethal force during the raid as a rallying cry for his base. The authorization has been defended by FBI spokespeople and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland as the regular operating process for all raids carried out by agents in the field.
