The recent FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago was a surprise to many, including former President Donald Trump. Until recently, the details of the raid were not disclosed to the public.
Newsweek reported that new shocking details about the raid on Trump’s Florida estate have emerged in the latest court filings.
Special Counsel Jack Smith is fighting to keep the classified documents case active after the trial was indefinitely delayed by the judge, while Trump’s lawyers are aggressively defending their position.
This week, they filed a motion to have the case tossed due to their claims that the FBI carried out “destruction of important exculpatory evidence.”
The defense attorneys for Trump are focusing on the procedure used by the feds to collect evidence and are objecting to the way the FBI handled the evidence obtained from Mar-a-Lago.
Newsweek noted:
Trump’s legal team noted in the filing that Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office recently acknowledged that some boxes of evidence were not in their “original, intact” form and may be in a different order from when they were digitally scanned.
According to Newsweek, Trump’s legal team included an exhibit in their motion that gives specific information about the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago almost two years ago.
The exhibit reveals that agents temporarily stored potentially sensitive materials on a coffee table and covered them with a sheet to restrict access to unauthorized individuals.
The filing also outlined the actions and choices of the FBI’s “filter team,” a specialized unit responsible for seizing crucial documents.
The outlet noted:
While they waited for a key to open the storage room, the filter team searched furniture and other items in plain view for classified materials. The team also searched a second-floor office location known as the “45 Office,” which had two primary rooms.
It is evident that Trump’s defense lawyers are seeking to emphasize flaws in the collection of evidence, much of which is classified, during the raid.
As Trump’s legal team persists in seeking to have the case dismissed entirely, social media users responded to the latest court filings.
Jack Smith and the FBI agents who raided Mar-a-Lago deleted exculpatory evidence related to the classified documents, according to a new motion to dismiss filed by Trump's defense. pic.twitter.com/Mq41GEU3IW
— Robert Gouveia Esq. (@RobGouveiaEsq) June 12, 2024
“Crooked FBI agents? How usual,” one X user wrote.
Another X user wrote, “Fruits of the poisonous tree. This is what happens when you issues guns and badges to accountants, i.e. FB👁️goons pretending to be LE agents.”