Trump lawyers say Justice Department document investigation has 'spiralled out of control'

Justice Department has wrongfully sought to criminalise former president, lawyers say in court filing

A redacted FBI photograph of classified documents recovered from a container in former president Donald Trump's estate at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. Reuters

The FBI searched Mr Trump's home over what it said were 'likely' efforts to conceal classified files. AFP

The Mar-a-Lago property was raided by agents on August 8. Reuters

Pages from a Department of Justice court filing in response to a request from Mr Trump's legal team for a 'special master' to review the documents seized. AP

Journalists read a heavily redacted court document relating to the FBI search. AP

The former president condemned the raid as 'the weaponisation of the justice system'. AP

Pages from a Department of Justice court filing, in response to a request from Mr Trump's legal team. AP

Mr Trump had faced accusations of deleting private communications during investigations into his alleged role in the storming of the Capitol building on January 6 by his supporters. Reuters

Mr Trump departs Trump Tower for a deposition two days after the FBI agents raided his Mar-a-Lago home. Reuters

Pages of entirely redacted information in the released version of an affidavit from the US Justice Department that was submitted to a judge to support the execution of the FBI search warrant. Reuters

Mr Trump was also accused of taking a trove of classified documents from the White House, leading to speculation that those missing documents could have been the focus of the raid. Reuters

Mr Trump set up his Save America political action committee days after losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden. EPA

A Trump supporter outside the Paul S Rogers Federal Building and US Courthouse in West Palm Beach, Florida. AP

Mr Trump reportedly had more than 300 classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. AP

US Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks about the FBI's search warrant. Reuters

Lawyers for Donald Trump on Monday opposed a US Justice Department request to continue reviewing classified documents seized by the FBI during the agency's August raid on the former president's Mar-a-Lago estate.

Slamming the government investigation as “unprecedented and misguided”, Mr Trump's lawyers asked District Judge Aileen Cannon to uphold the assigning of a special master to review the roughly 100 classified documents and thousands of other records taken during the FBI's search.

“In what at its core is a document storage dispute that has spiralled out of control, the government wrongfully seeks to criminalise the possession by the 45th president of his own presidential and personal records,” his lawyers wrote in a court filing.

“The government should therefore not be permitted to skip the process and proceed straight to a preordained conclusion.”

Court records have shown that Mr Trump is being investigated for potentially violating three federal laws related to mishandling records after leaving office last year.

The Justice Department's investigation hit a snag last week when Ms Cannon granted Mr Trump's request to appoint a special master. The Justice Department has asked her to lift that hold and threatened to appeal her ruling to a federal appeals court.

The department said the investigation would be irreparably harmed if the order was not lifted.

In asking Ms Cannon to leave her order in place, Mr Trump's lawyers said it would be a “sensible preliminary step towards restoring order from chaos”.

His lawyers also said there was no indication that any of the “purported records” had been disclosed to anyone.

The Justice Department has argued that Mr Trump does not have the right to a special master review. Appointing one would be unprecedented because the records belong to the government and not to him, prosecutors argued.

Mr Trump's lawyers contend that, as a former president, he has an “unfettered right” to presidential records.

Reuters contributed to this report