Donald Trump has begun his legal fightback against the US justice department over the seizure of documents from his Mar-a-Lago resort, requesting an independent court official to review materials taken during the search.

The filing in a Florida federal court on Monday marks Trump’s first formal move against the FBI following the dramatic raid on his Florida golf resort earlier this month, part of an investigation into his handling of classified documents from his time in the White House.

Trump’s lawyers argue in the filing that the documents are automatically covered by executive privilege because they were created while he was president. “Only an evaluation by a neutral reviewer, a special master, can secure the sanctity of these privileged materials,” they wrote.