Paul Manafort accuses the FBI of violating his Fourth Amendment rights

Former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort late Friday night in court filings accused the FBI of searching his property in violation of Fourth Amendment protections against illicit search and seizure.

Shortly after Special Counsel Robert Mueller was appointed, FBI agents visited a storage locker belonging to Manafort's company. They were given access by an employee who did not have authorization to grant it, Manafort's attorneys allege, and returned the following day to take files wielding a warrant secured using information based on that initial access.

"The FBI agent had no legitimate basis to reasonably believe that the former employee had common authority to consent to the warrantless initial search of the storage unit," said Manafort's legal team, also arguing the resultant warrant was too broad and that the agents searched more than it encompassed.

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Manafort was indicted for financial crimes in connection to Mueller's Russia probe and has pleaded innocent to the charges against him. His attorneys seek to get the evidence collected via this search labeled fruit of the poisonous tree.