Former President Trump on Sunday called on the FBI to return seized documents that are allegedly protected by attorney-client and executive privileges.
The big picture: The FBI searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home on Monday, recovering 11 sets of classified documents.
- Fox News reported on Saturday that the FBI seized boxes covered by attorney-client privilege and possibly executive privilege, according to unnamed sources familiar with the investigation.
What he’s saying: “It has just been learned that the FBI, in its now famous raid of Mar-a-Lago, took boxes of privileged ‘attorney-client’ material, and also ‘executive’ privileged material, which they knowingly should not have taken,” Trump said on Truth Social.
- “By copy of this TRUTH, I respectfully request that these documents be immediately returned to the location from which they were taken,” he said.
Of note: House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) told CBS’ Face the Nation he’d seen no evidence to support Trump’s claim that the documents were declassified.
- “A former president has no declassification authority,” Schiff said.
- “And the idea that 18 months after the fact Donald Trump could simply announce, ‘Well, I’m retroactively declassifying, or whatever I took home had the effect of declassifying them’ is absurd.”
Background: Trump and his associates have frequently sought to claim executive privilege to prevent the release of documents or information.
- Trump attempted to claim executive privilege over presidential records that the House Jan. 6 committee requested last year but was denied.
- Several former White House officials have also refused to appear before the committee, citing executive privilege.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated with Rep. Adam Schiff’s comments.