Donald Trump’s legal team revealed Monday that the former president is looking for a $100 million payday from the federal government over one of his criminal indictments.
A memo said Trump plans to sue the Department of Justice on allegations it practiced “political persecution” when it raided Mar-a-Lago and allegedly recovered classified documents he snuck out of the White House in 2021.
Trump’s Florida case was dismissed in July, with Judge Aileen Cannon writing that she tossed the case because the feds’ appointment of special prosecutor Jack Smith was illegal.
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Prior to that abrupt dismissal, the docs case was seen by many legal experts as the most damning of Trump’s quartet of criminal indictments because of the nature of the alleged crime and the evidence the FBI had.
Now, Trump wants the federal government to pay him $100 million in damages, claiming the DOJ practiced “tortious conduct” when it attempted to prosecute him on allegations he violated the Espionage Act.
Rich Schoenstein, a New York-based trial lawyer, told The Daily Beast that Trump’s potential litigation is a “show lawsuit” that will likely not be successful. He said this lawsuit would be particularly hard for Trump to win because “abuse of process claims” are “notoriously difficult” to sustain.
“Dozens of Show Lawsuits were filed after the 2020 Presidential Election—all of which were unsuccessful,” Schoenstein said. “Trump uses these Show Lawsuits as money raising ploys and to make public statements suggesting that, somehow, he is the victim.”
Jack Smith’s appointment to prosecute Donald Trump was deemed illegal by Judge Aileen Cannon last month, but he’s still prosecuting the former president in his election subversion case.
Kevin Wurm/ReutersTrump’s attorney, Daniel Epstein, filed a notice with the DOJ that warned them of the ex-president’s plans to sue. Epstein said he’ll give the DOJ 180 days to reach a resolution with Trump or else he and Trump will take the matter to court in the Southern District of Florida.
Epstein claimed the DOJ treated Trump differently than other suspects, claiming the feds were “inconsistent with protocols requiring the consent of an investigative target, disclosure to that individual’s attorneys, and the use of the local U.S. Attorney’s Office.”
Trump’s attorney added that the raid had the “clear intent to engage in political persecution—not to advance good law enforcement practices.”
Epstein’s memo also called out FBI Director Christopher Wray, a Trump appointee, and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland by name.
“Garland and Wray should have never approved a raid and subsequent indictment of President Trump because the well-established protocol with former U.S. presidents is to use non-enforcement means to obtain records of the United States,” wrote Epstein.
The DOJ did not immediately return a request from comment from The Daily Beast. It reportedly gave no comment to Fox News when approached about the matter.
