According to The Epoch Times, one of former President Donald Trump’s attorneys has revealed the argument Trump will use to respond to what he alleges was an improper and illegal raid on his home in Mar-a-Lago by the FBI. Attorney Alina Habba told Fox News on Tuesday evening that Trump’s argument will be based on the Fourth Amendment.
The Fourth Amendment guarantees a right to privacy and protects individuals from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government.
Trump has stated he believes his Fourth Amendment rights were violated when the FBI raided his home. He maintains he was cooperating with requests from the National Archives office for records and that all documents at Mar-a-Lago were declassified in the fall of 2020 or in January 2021
In her interview with Sean Hannity, Habba said: “In terms of what we do in the future, you know, there’s this Fourth Amendment like you brought up, there’s a Fourth Amendment issue here; the warrant was way too broad.”
Habba also noted that last week, Judge Aileen Cannon indicated she would likely support Trump’s request for the appointment of a special master to review documents taken from Mar-a-Lago.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has resisted such a move, claiming that documents were reviewed by their filter team and that there is no need for further review.
Amid speculation that Trump may not receive a fair hearing from Judge Reinhart, the judge who signed off on the warrant, Habba seemed pleased to announce the case will be heard by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a 2020 Trump appointee:
“We do have judge Cannon,” Habba said. “There’s a hearing on Thursday. I think that that will be giving us some judicial oversight that is much needed at this point.
“So at this point, I think the best thing we’ve done is we’ve gotten a judge in place … who does look like they’re going to be active.”
Habba added that soon Trump’s legal team will “move forward with filing to invalidate … the warrants due to Fourth Amendment issues.”
Addressing questions about the timetable for filing, Habba said:
“But we don’t have all the information yet. We still don’t even have a completely unredacted affidavit. They won’t share it with the legal team, let alone the public seems to know more than we do,” Habba complained. “So it’s a problem. And I think that the FBI is going to have major problems.”
The affidavit, which Trump demanded be unsealed, was released by Reinhart last Friday. The heavily redacted copy offered few details regarding what justified the warrant and search.
DOJ officials continue to block the release of information to the public. On Wednesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a memo to DOJ staff forbidding them from speaking to members of Congress on the matter.
Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) responded with his own memo, which stated:
“DOJ employees, take notice: No matter what this memo says, you are protected by federal law if you contact my office to blow the whistle on the improper politicization of the Department of Justice by Merrick Garland and Joe Biden.”
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