On Sunday, President Donald Trump called for Joe Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) to return all of the documents that were taken from his private residence in Florida, due to the fact that they are covered by attorney-client privilege.
The New York Post reports that President Trump first made the request on his social media platform, Truth Social, saying that “it has just been learned that the FBI, in its now famous raid of Mar-a-Lago, took boxes of privileged ‘attorney-client’ material, and also ‘executive’ privileged material, which they knowingly should not have taken.”
“By copy of this TRUTH, I respectfully request that these documents be immediately returned to the location from which they were taken,” Trump continued. “Thank you!”
According to sources familiar with the investigation, at least five of the plastic containers full of documents that were taken by federal agents – boxes A-14, A-26, A-43, A-13, and A-33 – contained documents and other information that were protected by either executive privilege or attorney-client privilege.
New details have emerged regarding some of the documents seized in the now-infamous FBI raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Among the items that were taken were binders of photos, at least one handwritten note, an executive grant of clemency for Roger Stone, and a leatherbound box of other documents. These details were revealed after the FBI released a property list of items on Friday.
Federal agents have claimed that the raid uncovered highly classified documents and sensitive material in President Trump’s private estate, although the 45th president denied that anything found at his home was secret, claiming that he had declassified everything in his possession. On Friday, John Solomon, a representative for President Trump, revealed that Trump had previously issued a “standing order” declaring that “documents removed from the Oval Office and taken to the residence were deemed to be declassified the moment he removed them.”
In the aftermath of the highly controversial raid, the Biden Administration has attempted to justify its actions by claiming that President Trump’s possession of these documents violated several federal laws, including the Presidential Records Act and the Espionage Act. But most of these arguments have not held up well against further legal scrutiny, and the result instead has been overwhelming backlash against the raid, which has been condemned by many across the political spectrum.