Former US President Donald Trump on Monday asked a federal court to temporarily block the FBI from reviewing the materials it seized two weeks ago from his Florida home, until a special master can be appointed to oversee the review, Reuters reported.
Trump's court motion, filed in a federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida, also demanded that the US Justice Department provide him with a more detailed property receipt outlining the items the FBI seized from his Mar-a-Lago home during its August 8 search, and asked investigators to return any items outside the scope of the search warrant.
The request was assigned to US District Judge Aileen M. Cannon, whom Trump appointed to the bench.
Several days after the FBI raid, a judge in Florida unsealed the search warrant for Trump’s home of Mar-a-Lago and related documents.
The warrant says that the FBI is investigating former US President Donald Trump for a potential violation of the Espionage Act.
Earlier reports said FBI agents who searched Mar-a-Lago removed no fewer than 11 sets of classified documents, including some marked as top secret and meant to be only available in special government facilities.
The FBI agents took around 20 boxes of items, binders of photos, a handwritten note and the executive grant of clemency for Trump’s ally Roger Stone, a list of items removed from the property shows.
Last week, the US Justice Department said it opposes unsealing the affidavit that prosecutors used to obtain a federal judge's approval to search Mar-a-Lago.
"If disclosed, the affidavit would serve as a roadmap to the government's ongoing investigation, providing specific details about its direction and likely course, in a manner that is highly likely to compromise future investigative steps," prosecutors wrote in their filing.