The Department of Justice on Friday appealed a federal judge’s ruling restricting it from using classified documents seized at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
In an evening filing, the DOJ asked the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals for a partial stay of a lower court ruling barring investigators from using the materials they seized in an August FBI search of the former president’s home until a court-appointed special master could review the documents.
The lower court ruling at issue, from US District Judge Aileen Cannon, “irreparably harms the government by enjoining critical steps of an ongoing criminal investigation and needlessly compelling disclosure of highly sensitive records,” including to Donald Trump’s lawyers, the DOJ wrote in its filing on Friday.
The government asked the appeals court to stay what it called “only the portions of the order causing the most serious and immediate harm,” which it said were the orders to refrain from using classified documents in its investigation and requiring the government to flag such documents for the special master process.
Earlier this month, Judge Cannon temporarily blocked the federal government’s law enforcement apparatus from acting on what most legal experts say is overwhelming evidence that Mr Trump violated several federal laws, pending the appointment of a third-party special master to review the thousands of documents and other items seized during the search to determine whether any are covered by attorney-client or executive privilege.
The DOJ previously appealed the special master ruling itself to the 11th Circuit.
According to federal officies, FBI found numerous top secret, classified documents kept in disarray in an unsecured location in the former president’s Florida home.
Investigators also said in court filings they believed there was evidence of an attempt to obstruct the federal investigation into the handling of the documents.
The Independent has contacted Mr Trump for comment.
