December 1, 2022 7:19pm EST
Mar-a-Lago probe: Federal appeals court halts special master review in setback for Trump’s legal team
Thursday’s court order by the three-judge panel represents a significant win for federal prosecutors
By Bradford Betz , Brooke Singman | Fox News
A federal appeals court on Thursday halted an independent review of documents seized during the FBI’s unprecedented raid of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in August.
The ruling, coming from the Atlanta-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, reverses U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon's order granting a so-called special master to review seized records and determine what is and is not relevant to investigators.
Cannon had named veteran Brooklyn judge Raymond Dearie and barred the Justice Department from using in its criminal investigation any of the seized records, including the roughly 100 with classification markings, until Dearie completed his work.
The Justice Department had argued that Dearie’s appointment was an unnecessary hindrance to its criminal investigation and said Trump had no credible basis to invoke either attorney-client privilege or executive privilege to shield the records from investigators.
It sought, as a first step, to regain access to the classified documents. A federal appeals panel sided with prosecutors in September, permitting the Justice Department to resume its review of the documents with classification markings.
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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mar-a-lago-probe-federal-appeals-court-halts-special-master-review-setback-trumps-legal-team
