Tens of thousands of private, unredacted emails from President Donald Trump’s transition team are in the hands of Special Counsel Robert Mueller – and the president’s defenders are calling foul.

“We have never said ‘no’ to anything,” a transition source told Axios.com, which revealed the development.

A Trump attorney alleged “unlawful conduct” by career government bureaucrats who appear to have turned privileged documents over to the special counsel’s office.

Mueller obtained the complete contents of 12 email accounts – including that of Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner – from the General Services Administration (GSA), the federal agency responsible for supporting the government’s offices, supplies, and systems, says Kory Langhofer, the counsel for Trump for America

The presidential transition’s email system was managed by GSA.

The actions “impair the ability of future presidential transition teams to candidly discuss policy and internal matters that benefit the country as a whole,” Langhofer wrote in a letter to House and Senate committee members.

The president’s defense team expected to be asked to turn over transition emails, and had sorted through its electronic records to remove privileged conversations in preparation.

But Mueller’s back-channel move gave him access to sensitive information on policy planning, press statements, political strategy, and gossip on potential administration nominees.

The Trump team only learned that Mueller had the trove when his agents used them while questioning witnesses.

“Mueller is using the emails to confirm things, and get new leads,” a transition source told Axios.

Mueller’s investigation may have violated the 4th Amendment’s protections against unreasonable searches and seizures if it obtained the emails illicitly, legal experts told Fox News.