An appeals court has ruled that a lower court judge should not have appointed a special master to review documents seized in an FBI search of Trump's home.
A three-judge panel ruled Wednesday that a special master should not have been appointed to review materials the FBI seized from former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, a decision that ends the outside review of thousands of documents that has delayed for months a criminal investigation into the former president’s handling of classified information after leaving office.
During brief arguments before the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta last week, the three judgesthat Trump and his legal team, in challenging the search warrant executed at his home long before charges had been brought, wanted special treatment that would not have been granted to any other American. They also said that the case did not appear to clear the bar for appointing a special master, a type of independent expert used in some legal cases.
The three members of the 11th Circuit panel were all appointed by Republicans. Chief Judge William Pryor was appointed by former President George W. Bush. Judges Britt Grant and Andrew Brasher were appointed by Trump. Before the ruling, special master Judge Raymond J. Dearie was deep into the process of reviewing more than 22,000 records seized by the FBI during a court-approved Aug. 8Dearie had asked the Justice Department and Trump’s lawyers to resolve questions over about 900 documents by Thursday. The special master’s initial review was expected to end in mid-December.
“The status of a document as personal or presidential does not alter the authority of the government to seize it under a warrant supported by probable cause; search warrants authorize the seizure of personal records as a matter of course,” the ruling states. “The Department of Justice has the documents because they were seized with a search warrant, not because of their status under the Presidential Records Act.
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