WASHINGTON, Oct 5 (Reuters) – A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday granted a Justice Department request to expedite its appeal of a lower court order appointing a special master to review records seized by the FBI at former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate.
The decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit to expedite the government’s appeal represents a setback for Trump, who had opposed the request.
Last week, the Justice Department asked the 11th Circuit to address concerns it still had with U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s appointment of Senior Judge Raymond Dearie, who is tasked with reviewing more than 11,000 files the FBI found inside Mar-a-Lago to eliminate anything privileged.
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Cannon’s order bars the Justice Department from relying on those records for its ongoing criminal investigation until Dearie’s review is complete.
In its filing, the Justice Department said the ban hindered its investigation and that it needed to be able to review unclassified records that may have been stored near classified records.
These unclassified documents, the department said, “could shed light” on how the documents were transferred or stored at the Mar-a-Lago estate, and who might have had access to them.
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Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; additional reporting by Ismail Shakil and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Tim Ahmann and Rosalba O’Brien
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