A federal appeals panel Thursday overturned an order creating special counsel to review 11,000 documents seized by the FBI at Mar-a-Lago from former President Donald Trump.
The decision by an Atlanta appeals court marked a decisive defeat for Trump. “The law is clear,” the justices wrote in a 23-page unanimous opinion. “We cannot pass a rule that allows any subject to block government investigations after the execution of the order. Nor can we pass a rule allowing only former presidents to do so.”
Now Trump can only appeal to the Supreme Court, although it was not immediately clear if he would. The former president has lost several cases before the high court. The most recent is whether Congress can access his tax returns.
In a statement, a Trump spokesperson said: “The decision does not address the merits that clearly demonstrate the impropriety of the unprecedented, unlawful and unwarranted raid on Mar-a-Lago. President Donald J Trump will continue to fight the Department of Justice.”
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Trump sought the appointment of a special counsel to examine the documents seized at Mar-a-Lago, including 103 with classified marks, shortly after the FBI searched his Mar-a-Lago compound.
The special counsel’s request was granted by Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon of Cuban origin, who gave him exceptional deference due to his status as former president. But the court judges ruled that Cannon should never have appointed him, and that she did not have the authority to prevent the Justice Department from using the seized materials.
“The plaintiff’s task was to show why he needed the documents, not why the government did not need them,” the judges wrote.
“The condition of a document, personal or presidential, does not alter the authority of the government to seize it under a warrant supported by probable cause. The Department of Justice has the documents because they were seized with a search warrant,” the three-judge panel said.
