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The US Department of Justice has appealed against a judge’s decision accepting Donald Trump’s request to appoint a court official to review thousands of documents the FBI retrieved from his Florida resort.
Authorities on Thursday filed the notice at the appeals court for the 11th circuit in Atlanta, Georgia, just days after district judge Aileen Cannon ordered the appointment of a so-called special master to examine the documents found in the former president’s home last month, of which more than 100 were marked as classified.
The DoJ’s move pushes back against a decision that could slow the government’s investigation but is unlikely to effect its final outcome.
The ruling by the Trump-appointed judge in Florida’s southern district — which argued that his position as a former president meant the stigma over the removal of the files was “in a league of its own” — surprised legal experts, with some arguing it suggested Trump’s legal status differed from others.
“This filing is critical to the DoJ’s arguments and will be important to appeals that follow and to limiting a possible delay of the DoJ investigation,” said Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor.
According to Cannon’s ruling, authorities will be temporarily banned from looking through the seized files until the court official completes their review.
Cannon’s decision came despite the DoJ’s objection to Trump’s request to halt the probe until a third party determined if some documents were subject to executive or attorney-client privilege and should be excluded from the investigation.
The DoJ had finalised its own examination and said only a small number of files should be excluded.
According to the inventory unsealed by authorities, agents seized 103 documents with classified markings, including 54 labelled secret and 18 labelled top secret. There were an additional 90 empty boxes marked either “classified” or “return to staff secretary/military aide”.
Kept in Trump’s storage room and office, the boxes also held thousands of printed articles and seemingly unclassified photographs and government documents.
Earlier this year, Trump had voluntarily returned more than 15 boxes including 184 classified documents, highlighting the magnitude of material the former president took away when he left the White House.
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Image and article originally from www.ft.com. Read the original article here.