A U.S. judge has refused to allow the Justice Department to immediately resume a review of classified documents seized by the FBI from Donald Trump’s Florida residence as part of an ongoing criminal investigation in favor of the former president.
Federal District Judge Elaine Cannon also appointed Judge Raymond Deer, a senior district court judge, as a third party to review documents confiscated by the FBI for material that could be subject to bail to keep them out of federal investigators.
The Justice Department promised to take the case to the Court of Appeals if Cannon ruled against his lawsuit. He also sought to prevent independent arbitrator Deer from examining nearly 100 classified documents out of 11,000 collected during a court-sanctioned search of the Trump residence on August 8.
“The Court does not consider it appropriate to accept the government’s findings on these important contentious issues without further consideration by an impartial third party in a prompt and orderly manner,” Cannon wrote.
Cannon’s ruling further complicates the Justice Department’s investigation, as a review by the Special Judicial Review Body could keep documents from being charged, given the possibility of criminal charges.
Cannon stated that she would ask Derry to prioritize reviewing classified records. He also ordered him to complete the verification of all seized documents by 30 November.
The Justice Department is investigating that Trump has stored government records, some classified as top secret, at his Mar-a-Lago Palm Beach residence since stepping down as president in January 2021.
The department is also investigating whether it obstructed the investigation after finding evidence that the tapes may have been passed on or hidden from FBI agents who traveled to Mar-a-Lago in June to try to obtain all the classified documents.
The investigation into the documents is one of several Trump will face as he looks to run for president again in 2024.
On September 8, the Justice Department asked the judge to partially lift previous restrictions that prevented department investigators from reviewing all confiscated documents so that they could at least continue to scrutinize documents classified as classified.
They also asked the judge to remove confidential records from the Special Judicial Review Authority and promised to take the case to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta if she did not.
Trump’s lawyers disputed the requests, telling the judge in Monday’s request that they dispute the government’s assertion that all records are confidential and added that special judicial oversight is needed to keep the charge under control.
About two weeks after the Mar-a-Lago raid, Trump’s lawyers attempted to appoint a special monitor to examine the confiscated documents for material that could be subject to attorney-client confidentiality, a legal principle that could prevent disclosure of some presidential documents.
Source: El Nashra