Former President Donald Trump’s lawsuit for a special master review of classified documents seized from his Mar-a-Lago home has been formally dismissed (Picture: Reuters)
Former President Donald Trump’s lawsuit requesting a third party to examine classified documents seized from his Mar-a-Lago home has been dismissed.
Federal Judge Aileen Cannon formally tossed Trump’s suit on Monday, after an appeals court ruled that a review by a special master was not necessary.
Trump had filed the suit to impede evidence from being collected in the case. Cannon in September appointed a judge, special master Raymond Dearie, to examine whether prosecutors should have access to the evidence.
The formal dismissal means the Justice Department can access tens of thousands of classified records that Trump took from the White House to his Florida residence.
Ex-President Donald Trump had filed a lawsuit requesting a special master to review classified documents in the case and challenge the evidence collection (Picture: AP)
Cannon’s one-page order comes 11 days after a three-judge appeals panel determined that Cannon was wrong in ordering Dearie to decide if the material was covered by executive or attorney-client privileges.
‘It is indeed extraordinary for a warrant to be executed at the home of a former president – but not in a way that affects our legal analysis or otherwise gives the judiciary license to interfere in an ongoing investigation,’ stated the panel on December 1.
The panel made up of Chief Judge William Pryor and Judges Andrew Brasher and Britt Grant added that making a ‘special exception’ for Trump ‘would defy our Nation’s foundational principle that our law applies “to all, without regard to numbers, wealth, or rank’”.
‘The law is clear,’ the panel stated. ‘We cannot write a rule that allows any subject of a search warrant to block government investigations after the execution of the warrant. Nor can we write a rule that allows only former presidents to do so.’
Trump’s legal team was given until Thursday to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court, but did not do so.
The suit slowed the Justice Department’s investigation into the thousands of records the FBI recovered from Mar-a-Lago in August. The Justice Department has been investigating whether Trump violated three criminal statues by removing classified documents from the White House and storing them in his home.
Last month, the Justice Department appointed special counsel Jack Smith to oversee the documents probe.
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The formal dismissal of Donald Trump’s suit means the Justice Department can access tens of thousands of classified documents.
