They could reveal documents that justify the search of Mar-a-Lago 2:25
(CNN) --
Former President Donald Trump argued in a court filing Wednesday that the National Archives should have expected to find classified material among the 15 boxes he turned over in January from Mar-a-Lago because they were presidential records.
The filing, his legal argument written before a critical hearing on Thursday, acknowledged that classified material was found at Mar-a-Lago, but argued that it should not have been cause for alarm, and should not have led to the search of the residence of Trump in Florida earlier this month.
DOJ says classified documents at Mar-a-Lago were likely "hidden and removed" to block investigation
Trump's new appearance Wednesday on his platform to formally respond to prosecutors' claims that members of his legal team engaged in "obstructive conduct" by concealing documents at his Florida home and providing false information to investigators about how many classified documents remained at the site.
Describing the investigation as politically charged given Trump's possible 2024 candidacy, he mocked the idea that the Justice Department could be "charged with the responsibility of assessing its unwarranted quest to criminalize the possession of personal and presidential records by of a former president in a safe environment.”
The Justice Department had said in court documents that the search was conducted after the FBI found evidence that Trump's team had withheld materials after claiming all the classified materials had been turned over in June.
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"The purported justification for the initiation of this criminal investigation was the alleged discovery of confidential information contained in the 15 boxes of presidential records," Trump's attorneys wrote.
“But this 'discovery' was entirely to be expected given the very nature of presidential records.
Simply put, the idea that presidential records would contain sensitive information should never have been a cause for alarm."
White House officials express (private) concern over classified information Trump brought to Mar-a-Lago
Trump's lawyers argue that under the Presidential Records Act, the Archives should have pursued a good faith effort to secure the recovery of the presidential records, rather than refer a criminal investigation to the Justice Department.
In posts on his social media platform Truth Social on Wednesday, Trump claimed that he had declassified all the documents in the photo.
“Terrible the way the FBI, during the Mar-a-Lago raid, randomly dumped documents all over the floor (perhaps pretending I did it!),” Trump wrote, “and then started taking them photos for the public to see.
Did they think they wanted to keep it a secret?
Lucky I declassified it!”
The photos, however, do not show top secret information, only the cover of secret documents, nor is there any evidence that the documents have been declassified.
There are also no references in the 19-page file submitted Wednesday for declassification.
In one passage, Trump's lawyers write that Tuesday's Justice Department filing included a photograph of "allegedly classified materials."
The court filings are in a civil lawsuit Trump filed earlier this month as part of his bid to get an "expert investigator" appointed to review documents the FBI seized from Mar-a-Lago.
Federal prosecutors oppose this request, claiming it would impede the ongoing criminal investigation and intelligence community review of any national security risks, and want the lawsuit dismissed.
Should an expert investigator be appointed, Trump's filing argued that "it would be appropriate for the expert investigator to hold a top secret/SCI security clearance," an implied admission of higher-level classification markings on the documents.
The hearing is scheduled for Thursday at 1:00 pm ET.
Hearing on the investigative expert this Thursday
Where did Trump keep classified documents and what did they contain?
3:08
Trump filed the lawsuit early last week, 14 days after the search warrant was executed, claiming his constitutional rights had been trampled on in the raid.
He demanded that an expert investigator be appointed to review the materials seized by the FBI at Mar-a-Lago.
An expert witness is an outside attorney who is appointed by the courts in some situations, often those where attorneys' offices have been searched, to review evidence obtained by the government and filter out privileged materials that should be kept out of court. the hands of researchers.
After Trump's initial lawsuit was deemed to lack several key legal elements, the judge assigned to the case — Trump-appointed judge Aileen Cannon — asked her attorneys to supplement it with additional information last Friday.
On Saturday, she said in an order that she was leaning toward appointing the investigating expert, but that she would first consider court documents responsive to the request and she would hear arguments on that Thursday.
The Justice Department argued in Tuesday's filing that appointing an investigative expert would be "unnecessary" and a move that would impede criminal investigation and risk assessment by the intelligence community.
Prosecutors argued that Trump did not meet required procedural thresholds to make the request.
'Limited Series of Materials' Possibly Protected by Attorney-Client Privilege Found at Mar-a-Lago, DOJ Says
The Justice Department said Trump's scenario — one focused primarily on questionable claims of executive privilege — was vastly different from situations in which expert investigators would normally be appointed.
In those cases, the materials covered by the attorney-client privilege are the primary concern.
Prosecutors previously told the court that "a limited set of materials" that possibly covered attorney-client privilege were recovered in the search.
The Justice Department's internal screening team has now finished its job of segregating those materials from what is being shared with investigators, the department said Tuesday, and the rest of the documents have already been reviewed by agents working on the case.
Donald TrumpMar-a-Lago
