The new lawsuit marks the first legal filing by Trump’s team since FBI agents launched their investigation on Aug. 8 and underscores how his legal team has struggled to coalesce around a unique strategy. It has been assigned to Judge Aileen Cannon, who was nominated to the seat by Trump in 2020. In the lawsuit, Trump argues that his constitutional rights were violated and that privileged materials may have been seized. While the legal maneuver could slow the ongoing Justice Department criminal investigation, Trump’s request in federal court in South Florida could face an uphill battle after his team missed several opportunities to challenge the investigation. The former President’s lawyers refused to take the stand in court immediately after the search warrant was executed. They also did not consider whether the search warrant affidavit should be made public before or during a court hearing last week in West Palm Beach, Florida, even though one of his attorneys was present. Trump, in the new filing, is also asking for more detailed proof of what was taken from Mar-a-Lago. That request, if granted, would be in addition to the two receipts the FBI has already given to Trump’s team detailing 33 items seized and signed by his lawyer at the end of the investigation. The Justice Department removed 11 sets of classified documents from Trump’s home, according to documents unsealed by a judge last week. The inventory shows that some of the recovered materials were marked “top secret/SCI,” which is one of the highest levels of classification. The department has already indicated that it uses an internal group of filters to screen the seized items, to separate out material that could be the subject of privilege claims. For example, investigators cited the work of a team of filters when they returned to Trump private documents that would not have been part of the investigation, such as two expired passports and his diplomatic passport. The Justice Department, in court documents, said it believes the evidence it collected at Mar-a-Lago will support its criminal investigation into the mishandling of federal records, including national defense material, after Trump’s team went through boxes of records in Florida when he left. office. The investigation is also looking into possible obstruction of justice in the investigation. The Justice Department has said it is concerned that further information made public or known by the Trump team could cause witness or document tampering. And, according to reports by CNN and The New York Times, a Trump lawyer told investigators in writing that no classified files were left at Mar-a-Lago after June. The FBI said in an inventory list at the end of its investigation that additional classified documents were recovered. A federal judge in the Southern District of Florida reviewed the Justice Department’s reasons for the search earlier this month and approved it. The judge is now considering whether to release more details about the investigation. The three attorneys who signed the motion are Lindsey Halligan, Jim Trusty and Evan Corcoran. The filing included a line about politics not affecting the administration of justice.

In the deposition, Trump’s lawyers presented the former President’s account of how the investigation ended, the events leading up to it and the fallout from it. The lawsuit also recounted a message about Attorney General Merrick Garland that Trump’s lawyers gave by phone to a senior Justice Department official on Aug. 11, days after the investigation. “President Trump wants the Attorney General to know that he has heard from people across the country about the raid,” Trump’s message said, according to the lawsuit. “If there was one word to describe their mood, it’s ‘angry.’ Heat builds up. The pressure is building. Anything I can do to reduce the heat, reduce the pressure, just let us know.” The filing states that at 9:10 A.M. ET on the day of the investigation, the same top Justice Department official — Jay Bratt, the counterintelligence chief in the Justice Department’s national security division — called Trump’s lawyers to say a search warrant was being executed at Mar-a-Lago . “Heavy debate ensued as to why the government did not voluntarily submit a request for further investigation of the facilities, given the extensive assistance President Trump had provided to that point,” the lawsuit states. According to Trump, the investigation lasted nine hours and involved two dozen FBI agents. The lawsuit recounted a request by Bratt to turn off Mar-a-Lago’s surveillance cameras — a request that the filing says was denied. Bratt also asked for the names of Trump’s lawyers who may have reached the probe. The new lawsuit alleges that Bratt refused a request by Trump’s team to provide them with the affidavit. “Among other actions taken after being notified of this unprecedented event, President Trump’s counsel contacted three attorneys general in the district who agreed to go to Mar-a-Lago,” the lawsuit said. “Once they arrived, they asked to enter the mansion to observe what the FBI agents were doing, which the government refused to allow.”

Trump’s June meeting with federal authorities in detail

Trump’s legal team is also outlining, for the first time, its version of what happened in the criminal records search before the investigation — giving Trump himself a lot of power. In a June 3 meeting in which investigators visited Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s team states, “President Trump greeted them in the dining room,” then left the agents with the parting words: “Whatever you need, just let us know.” Investigators then inspected a warehouse, which Trump authorized his attorney to do, the filing said. Five days later, when the Justice Department wrote a letter requesting that the warehouse be secured, “President Trump directed his staff to install a second lock on the warehouse door and one was added,” his team wrote. Trump’s lawyers also say the former President led the acceptance of a Justice Department subpoena in late June seeking Mar-a-Lago surveillance video. It is the first time these investigative steps have been publicly described in court. Trump’s revelations could come into play as a federal judge looks into transparency in the case. A lawyer for media organizations seeking access to the search warrant affidavit argued last week that the Justice Department’s version of events that the Trump team has publicly described should be unsealed. The Justice Department has said it is investigating obstruction of justice efforts in the probe, and CNN and other media outlets have reported that Trump’s lawyer did not represent other classified material at Mar-a-Lago before the FBI probe turned up several sets of documents that are marked as classified. In addition to asking for a special master to be appointed, Trump and his lawyers have used their lawsuit as a vehicle to rehash some of his long-standing grievances about the FBI’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The lawsuit blasted “biased FBI agents” and criticized key figures in the Russia investigation — including Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, Christopher Steele and Bruce Ohr, who played a role in the FBI’s early investigation into the web of connections between Trump’s 2016 campaign and the Kremlin. Trump cited it in the lawsuit as part of his argument that the Justice Department and FBI are biased against him and that the Mar-a-Lago investigation was designed to derail his political career. This story has been updated with additional reports. CNN’s Marshall Cohen contributed to this report.