Appeals court orders end to special master review process in Trump documents case - CBS News

1 year ago 58

Washington – A three-judge national appeals tribunal sheet successful Atlanta ruled that the special maestro reappraisal process that oversaw the Justice Department's usage of non-classified grounds collected earlier this twelvemonth astatine erstwhile President Donald Trump's Florida residence indispensable end.

The unanimous decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit reversed the determination of Judge Aileen Cannon, a national justice from Florida who granted Trump's request for the reappraisal and appointed semi-retired national Judge Raymond Dearie of New York arsenic an autarkic arbiter, oregon special master, to sift done the documents for immoderate that whitethorn beryllium taxable to claims of privilege by the erstwhile president.

That determination besides barred investigators from utilizing the astir 13,000 documents taken from Mar-a-Lago, Trump's resort, during the execution of a hunt warrant connected Aug. 8 for investigative purposes. A abstracted appeals tribunal decision from September permitted the Justice Department to usage much than 100 documents with classified markings it seized for its probe into Trump's alleged mishandling of delicate documents, and Thursday's consequent determination grants the authorities afloat entree to the evidentiary record.

Trump tin present inquire the afloat 11th Circuit to rehear the lawsuit oregon entreaty the determination to the Supreme Court.

In a statement, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said the erstwhile president called the panel's determination "procedural and based lone connected jurisdiction."

"The determination does not code the merits that intelligibly show the impropriety of the unprecedented, illegal, and unwarranted raid connected Mar-a-Lago," Cheung's connection said.

But successful fact, the 11th Circuit's sentiment made wide that the execution of the hunt warrant — the "raid" — was legal.

The Justice Department "presented an FBI agent's sworn affidavit to a Florida magistrate judge, who agreed that probable origin existed to judge that grounds of transgression violations would apt beryllium recovered astatine Mar-a-Lago," the sentiment stated.

"President Donald J. Trump volition proceed to combat against the weaponized Department of 'Justice,' portion lasting for America and Americans," Cheung added.

Trump and his allies person often accused Attorney General Merrick Garland of weaponizing the Justice Department against Republicans, though nary tribunal has recovered immoderate grounds of that.

"The instrumentality is clear. We cannot constitute a regularisation that allows immoderate taxable of a hunt warrant to artifact authorities investigations aft the execution of the warrant. Nor tin we constitute a regularisation that allows lone erstwhile presidents to bash so," Chief Judge William Pryor and Judges Britt Grant and Andrew Brasher said successful their 23-page opinion. "Either attack would beryllium a extremist reordering of our caselaw limiting the national courts' engagement successful transgression investigations. And some would interruption bedrock separation-of-powers limitations."

Pryor was appointed to the 11th Circuit by erstwhile President George W. Bush, portion Grant and Brasher were named by Trump.

The sentiment from the 11th Circuit wipes distant Cannon's bid appointing the peculiar maestro and sends the lawsuit backmost to the little tribunal with instructions for it to beryllium dismissed.

"This entreaty requires america to see whether the territory tribunal had jurisdiction to artifact the United States from utilizing lawfully seized records successful a transgression investigation," the judges wrote. "The reply is no."

Trump archetypal asked Cannon to name a peculiar maestro to reappraisal the seized documents successful precocious August, 2 weeks aft the FBI conducted the hunt of his bureau and retention country astatine Mar-a-Lago. Prosecutors accidental they are conducting a nationalist information probe into those and different delicate documents retrieved from the Florida edifice aft Trump near office, and imaginable obstruction of that probe.

When issuing her archetypal bid appointing the peculiar master, Cannon wrote that Trump faced an "unequitable imaginable harm by mode of improper disclosure of delicate accusation to the public," but transgression investigators seldom — if ever — merchandise seized grounds to the nationalist unless transgression charges are filed. The Justice Department has repeatedly argued the full process was premature and unnecessary.

The erstwhile president's ineligible squad has said Cannon's bid appointing a peculiar maestro was not appealable and claimed that Trump deemed the records helium brought to Mar-a-Lago arsenic "personal" portion helium was inactive successful office, a designation allowed nether the Presidential Records Act (PRA).

"It is simply untenable to reason immoderate president whitethorn beryllium taxable to a transgression complaint for exercising the unfettered rights acceptable distant successful the PRA to categorize definite documents arsenic 'personal' during that president's word of office," they told the 11th Circuit successful filings.

But the 11th Circuit noted that adjacent if Trump did designate the papers arsenic "personal," hunt warrants authorize the seizure of specified records.

"As we person said, the presumption of a papers arsenic idiosyncratic oregon statesmanlike does not change the authorization of the authorities to prehend it nether a warrant supported by probable cause," the judges wrote.

Claims of attorney-client privilege person mostly been resolved by the 2 parties, but Trump argued immoderate of the seized records beryllium to him successful a idiosyncratic capableness arsenic the erstwhile president. His ineligible squad has said the documents helium brought to Mar-a-Lago indispensable beryllium considered "presumptively privileged" by the courts and shielded from the transgression probe until the autarkic reappraisal concludes.

Throughout the appeal, prosecutors remained opposed to Trump's speechmaking of the law, penning successful portion that helium cannot asseverate enforcement privilege to preclude reappraisal of enforcement subdivision documents by the enforcement subdivision itself. The Justice Department besides argued that Cannon overstepped erstwhile she issued her September injunction barring the FBI from utilizing the seized worldly for investigative purposes.

A three-judge sheet heard oral arguments successful the quality past week, during which they appeared open to the Justice Department's presumption that Cannon wrongly appointed the peculiar maestro to reappraisal the seized documents and erred erstwhile she issued her injunction.

Thursday's ruling comes aft Attorney General Merrick Garland past period appointed a peculiar counsel to oversee the Justice Department's probe into Trump's handling of authorities records, arsenic good arsenic the department's probe into his efforts to subvert the results of the 2020 statesmanlike election.