President Trump is suing the Department of Justice for $100 million following the 2022 search of his Mar-a-Lago property by the FBI. Trump’s attorneys say the search, undertaken in connection to his classified documents case brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith, was “oppressive” and “malicious.”

In a filing first reported on Monday by Fox News, Trump’s team says that the reputational damage to the former president as a result of the search is worthy of a $100 million payday. Such claims are filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which governs when and how citizens can seek restitution for the actions of government officials. 

“The intrusion into President Trump’s seclusion, the abuse of process by the Garland Department of Justice and Wray FBI, and the subsequent malicious prosecution are particularly egregious, showing willful, wanton, oppressive, and malicious intent by the Department of Justice and FBI,” Trump’s attorneys wrote. They have also criticized the search in criminal court as unlawful. Last month, charges in the classified documents case were dismissed by Judge Aileen Cannon. Mr. Smith has filed a notice of appeal. 

Trump’s claims of wrongdoing by the justice department rest on the millions of dollars he has been forced to spend on his defense, and the damage to the former president’s reputation as a result of both the search itself and the ensuing criminal charges. Judge Cannon’s finding that Mr. Smith’s appointment was unconstitutional has — so far — spared Trump from standing trial.  

For more than a year, Trump was under investigation by law enforcement officials for keeping classified information at his Mar-a-Lago estate — information that was moved to Florida from the White House when Trump was preparing to leave office. When Trump was eventually charged in 2023 with 37 crimes related to his retention of classified documents and his refusal to return them to the government, the former president said he was the victim of a political prosecution. 

Not all lawyers are impressed by Trump’s demand for payments. An attorney, Mark Zaid, for a former homeland security aide to Trump called the former president’s justice department filing the “legal equivalent of a joke.” Trump, though, has on Truth Social and in fundraising emails lashed out against the search of the Palm Beach manse’s private quarters. The FBI insists it followed appropriate procedure in ensuring that its agents were armed when they entered. 

In an interview with Fox News on Monday, a Trump lawyer, Daniel Epstein, said, “What President Trump is doing here is not just standing up for himself — he is standing up for all Americans who believe in the rule of law and believe that you should hold the government accountable when it wrongs you.”