When the prosecutors Areas had already appealed U.S. District Court Judge Eileen M. Cannon’s special principal appointment appealed the full court’s order on Friday. If the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit sided with the government, the special master’s review would be halted — and criminal investigators would again be allowed access to thousands of declassified documents seized by FBI agents from Mar-a-Lago in August.
The government said in its appeal that the documents are critical to criminal investigations into mishandling of unclassified documents, blocking and destruction of government records, and can help conduct witness interviews and corroborate evidence.
“In short, unclassified records stored jointly with records bearing classification identifiers identify who is responsible for the unauthorized retention of these records, the relevant periods in which the records were created or accessed, and who accessed or viewed them,” the filing states.
The Atlanta-based appeals court has given Trump’s lawyers until November 10 to file their response. As part of their appeal, Justice Department lawyers updated the number of documents taken from Mar-a-Lago, which was previously said to be 11,000, but now stands at 13,000.
Trump’s lawyers sought an outside expert two weeks later to determine whether the seized materials — including 103 classified documents — were protected by attorney-client or executive privilege.
The lawyers argued Friday’s 53-page filing Brooklyn-based federal judge Raymond J. Trump does not have the right to assert either type of privilege over government documents, making Thierry’s review unnecessary.
Cannon first ordered the special master to review the classified and unclassified material and barred the Justice Department from using any of the documents in its criminal investigation until that review was done. A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit overturned part of that decision, which removed classified material from Deary’s review and allowed investigators to immediately use those documents.
Thursday, The Supreme Court refused A petition from Trump’s lawyers to reconsider part of the appeals court’s ruling on short, technical grounds.
Cannon said Deary has until December to review the unclassified documents.
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