WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Donald Trump has filed a $100-million claim against the US Justice Department alleging the 2022 Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raid on his Florida home to recover classified documents was “political persecution.”

The claim, which was filed last week but only came to light on Monday, accuses Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI director Christopher Wray of seeking to “injure” the former president.

Trump was charged in Florida with 31 counts of “willful retention of national defense information” for refusing to return top-secret documents taken from the White House when he left office.

A federal judge dismissed the case last month on the grounds that Special Counsel Jack Smith, who brought the charges, was unlawfully appointed.

FBI agents, acting on a search warrant approved by a federal judge, raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence on 8 August 2022, to recover classified documents, including records from the Pentagon and Central Intelligence Agency, which were allegedly being kept unsecured at his home.