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An appeals court on Wednesday granted the Justice Department’s request to block a hold by U.S. District Judge Eileen Cannon related to the seizure of classified documents at former President Trump’s Florida estate.
In a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals of three judges for the 11th Circuit, Cannon said he falsely blocked federal prosecutors from using 100 documents containing classification marks as part of a criminal investigation. increase.
“It is self-evident that the public has a keen interest in ensuring that the storage of classified records does not cause ‘very serious harm to national security,'” they wrote. “To verify that, we need to review the documentation, determine who accessed it when, and determine which (if any) sources or methods are at risk,” they added. rice field.
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The ruling paves the way for the DOJ to resume using the documents when evaluating whether to file criminal charges as it investigates the existence of top-secret government records stored in Mar-a-Lago. .
The government claimed the investigation was hampered by an order from U.S. District Judge Eileen Cannon, which temporarily barred investigators from continuing to use the documents in their investigations. The Trump-appointed Cannon, she said, remained on hold pending another review by an independent arbitrator she appointed at the request of the Trump team.
The FBI seized nearly 11,000 documents, including about 100 classification marks, during a court-sanctioned Palm Beach club raid last month. A criminal investigation has been launched as to whether the records were mishandled or compromised. It is not clear if Trump will be indicted or if someone else will.
On Sept. 5, Cannon said he would appoint an independent special master to review the records and retrieve anything subject to attorney-client privilege. Raymond Deary, former Chief Justice of the Brooklyn-based federal court, has been appointed to the position.
The Department of Justice insisted they didn’t need a special master, but it didn’t work.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.