Washington. A US appeals court has denied former President Donald Trump’s request to prevent prosecutors from examining thousands of government documents that were at his Florida residence after he left office.
The federal Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia, unanimously struck down a Florida judge’s previous order to appoint a “special master” to review documents seized in August from his Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Beach. , which prevented the Justice Department from using them in its investigation into Trump’s actions regarding those documents.
The seized material includes thousands of White House recordings belonging to the National Archives, as well as more than 100 classified documents, some marked top secret.
The appointment of a “special master” and related orders issued by a Florida judge delayed and threatened to deactivate the Justice Department’s criminal investigation of Trump for unauthorized possession of national defense information under the espionage law. and for obstruction of justice.
The court ruled that there was nothing illegal in the Aug. 8 raid on Trump’s residence, when the papers were seized.
