A US judge has refused to allow the Justice Department to immediately resume reviewing classified records the FBI seized from Donald Trump’s Florida home as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into the former president.
Federal District Judge Eileen Cannon also appointed Judge Raymond Deere, a senior district court judge, as a third party to review records seized by the office, looking for material that could be privileged to keep from federal investigators.
The Justice Department has vowed to take the case to an appeals court if Cannon rules against his claim, and is also seeking to have an independent arbitrator, Deere, review nearly 100 of the 11,000 classified documents. collected during the court-approved investigation to prevent the Trump case. Home on August 8.
“The Court does not find it appropriate to accept the Government’s conclusions on these important contentious issues without further review by an impartial third party in an expeditious and orderly manner,” Cannon wrote.
Cannon’s ruling complicates the Justice Department’s investigation because a review by a special judicial monitor could withhold documents from prosecutors considering the possibility of criminal charges.
On Thursday, Cannon said he was asking Drey to prioritize reviewing classified records and ordered him to complete a review of all the seized documents by Nov. 30.
The Justice Department is investigating Trump’s retention of government records, some of which are classified as top secret, at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach after he leaves office in January 2021.
The department is also investigating the possibility that he obstructed the investigation after finding evidence that records were moved or hidden from FBI agents who went to Mar-a-Lago in June to retrieve all the classified documents. Is.
The investigation into the documents is one of several that Trump faces as he contemplates a re-election bid in 2024.
About a week ago, the Justice Department asked a judge to partially lift previous restrictions that prevented department investigators from reviewing all seized documents so they could at least continue to scrutinize documents classified as classified.
The judge was also asked to exclude the confidential records from the scope of the special judicial monitor’s review, and they pledged to remand the case to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta if he did not do so.
Trump’s lawyers opposed those requests, telling the judge in a Monday filing that they reject the government’s claim that all records are confidential, adding that a special judicial monitor is needed to help keep the prosecution under control.
About two weeks after the Mar-a-Lago search, Trump’s lawyers sought to appoint a special monitor to review the seized records for material that could be covered by attorney-client privilege, a legal principle that can prevent disclosure of certain presidential records. prevent the republic
Source: Lebanon Debate
