They say themselves in these papers that they filed that this is under the Presidential Records Act.

So what they did was to try and criminalize Donald Trump, as they always do.

They found these three mundane statutes, espionage and the two others, obstruction.

And they're trying to claim that there was some sort of criminal activity.

A Trump attorney spins a new defense for the former president, that espionage and

obstruction are only minor offenses. We'll have the new developments overnight from

Trump's legal team. Plus, the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago has more lawmakers taking precautions over concerns of politically motivated violence.

And it all comes as President Biden is set to give a primetime speech tonight focusing on the soul of the nation.

We'll have more on his message to a divided country just ahead.

Music to a divided country just ahead. Good morning and welcome to wait too early on this Thursday, the 1st of September.

I'm Jonathan Lemire.

Thanks for starting your day with us.

Breaking news overnight,

former president Donald Trump's legal team has responded to the Department of Justice's latest filing on the classified documents seized during the FBI search of Mara Lago. In their 18-page filing,

Trump's lawyers suggested that by launching what they described as an unprecedented, unnecessary,

and legally unsupported raid on Marlago, the DOJ was, quote, criminalizing a former president's

possession of personal and presidential records in a secure setting.

Trump's legal team also aggressively renewed its request for a special master or third party

to review the documents that the FBI agency's, adding, left unchecked, the DOJ will impugn,

leak, and publicize selective aspects of their investigation with no recourse for Trump

but to somehow trust the self-restraint of currently

unchecked investigators. It goes on, while DOJ may have succeeded in taking a partial filter

...