WASHINGTON, DC — The
US Justice Department on Friday appealed in part a judge’s decision
to halt the review of seized documents from former president Donald Trump’s
Florida estate, asking to continue its investigation of those materials marked as
classified.
اضافة اعلان
Federal
investigators have been blocked since last week from reviewing thousands of
documents taken by the
FBI from Trump’s seaside mansion, after a judge sided
with the former president and decided to appoint an independent arbiter to sort
through the files.
The Justice
Department, in its filing Friday evening, argued that Judge Aileen Cannon
“fundamentally erred in appointing a special master and granting injunctive
relief,” but would limit its appeal to just the “roughly 100 records bearing
classification markings”, recovered from Trump’s estate.
Delaying the review
of the classified documents, which it argues are government property, “impedes
the government’s efforts to protect the Nation’s security”, the Justice
Department said.
“It also irreparably
harms the government by enjoining critical steps of an ongoing criminal
investigation and needlessly compelling disclosure of highly sensitive records,
including to plaintiff’s counsel,” the filing added, referring to Trump’s
lawyers.
Trump is facing
mounting legal pressure, with the Justice Department saying top-secret
documents were “likely concealed” to obstruct an FBI probe into his potential
mishandling of classified materials.
He has denied all
wrongdoing and said the raid on his mansion was “one of the most egregious
assaults on democracy in the history of our country”, while making it a major
talking point at his political rallies.
The appeal will be
heard first by a three-judge panel on the 11th Circuit but could ultimately
wind up at the Supreme Court.
On Thursday, Judge
Cannon appointed Raymond Dearie to review the files, as the so-called special
master.
The 78-year-old
senior federal judge in New York was one of two people proposed by Trump’s
legal team.
Dearie issued an order on Friday for Trump’s lawyers and the
Justice Department counsel to meet with him in New York early next week.
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