George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said Monday that former President Donald Trump would find it “difficult to prevail” in his potential $100 million suit against the Justice Department over a raid for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump’s attorneys filed an administrative claim on Monday with the Justice Department over the Aug. 8, 2022, raid on Mar-a-Lago and the subsequent indictment secured by special counsel Jack Smith Monday, a preliminary step before actually suing, that accuses the FBI and DOJ of “malicious political prosecution aimed at affecting an electoral outcome to prevent former President Trump from being re-elected,” the New York Post reported.
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Turley noted that, like Trump as President, the DOJ has “their own form of immunity,” which could come into play should Trump’s lawyers actually file a lawsuit.
“Well, I think he is going to find greater political traction than legal traction on this type of case, the odds are against him,” Turley said. “This is a very difficult type of case to prevail on against the Justice Department. They’re given their own form of immunity, ironically, for discretionary functions.”
“Now, to get around that, what the Trump team is saying is that the Supreme Court has established that this was unconstitutional, that there are privileges or protections here, that you shouldn’t have gone forward with this,” Turley continued. “That remains an issue on appeal as to what extent the president has those protections, the Supreme Court itself said, at least with regards to the presidential immunity aspects that they have not ruled on this previously. So, this is the type of area the courts tend to not like to be pulled into. So, the odds are against the Trump team on this. What they do get potentially is discovery, but that’s a two-way street. The Department of Justice then gets discovery as well against the Trump team.”
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U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon of the Southern District of Florida dismissed the charges against Trump in the classified documents case in July, ruling that Smith was unlawfully appointed as special counsel. Cannon previously ordered the appointment of a special master to review documents seized during the Mar-a-Lago raid, but the ruling was later overturned on appeal by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.
“The Supreme Court said that you are not protected for acts that are personal in nature, but you’re also not protected for official acts that are done for personal reasons. That’s a sort of gray area,” Turley said. “They established these three sets of cases, and the courts have to determine where this falls. Now the court in Florida did dismiss this case, and the Trump team has arguments here that are not frivolous.”
Turley said that even with Trump’s cooperation with some FBI requests prior to the raid, he may not have a good case.
“The bets on this one have got to go in favor of the Justice Department,” Turley said.
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First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.