John Dowd, one of President Donald Trump's top lawyers, ripped into the special counsel's office for the FBI raid of former campaign manager Paul Manafort's home, Fox News is reporting.
Dowd called the predawn raid of Manafort's Virginia home a "gross abuse of the judicial process" and said investigators used tactics normally seen "in Russia, not America," according to the news network.
His comments are said to have come in an email sent to a Wall Street Journal reporter and obtained by Fox News.
FBI agents had raided Manafort's home on July 26 and seized documents and other materials related to the investigation of Russian meddling in the presidential election, The Washington Post reported.
Agents, armed with a search warrant, raided Manafort's home a day after he had met with Senate Intelligence Committee staff members, the newspaper said.
"These failures by Special Counsel to exhaust less intrusive methods is a fatal flaw in the warrant process and would call for a Motion to Suppress the fruits of the search," Dowd wrote, according to Fox News.
Dowd claimed agents seized "privileged and "confidential materials prepared by Manafort's attorneys.
"Thus, it appears the search warrant here was obtained by a gross abuse of the judicial process by the Special Counsel's office," Dowd added. "In addition, given the obvious unlawful deficiencies, this extraordinary invasive tool was employed for its shock value to try to intimidate Mr. Manafort . . . These methods are normally found and employed in Russia not America."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.