An appeals court on Wednesday granted the Justice Department’s request to block the detention of U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Cannon in connection with the seizure of sensitive documents at former President Trump’s Florida estate. The three-judge U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit said Cannon improperly prevented federal prosecutors from using 100 classified documents as part of the criminal investigation. “It goes without saying that the public has a strong interest in ensuring that the storage of classified records would not result in “extremely serious harm to national security,”” they wrote. “Determining this,” they added, “necessarily involves examining the documents, determining who had access to them and when, and deciding which (if any) sources or methods were compromised.” NEW YORK AG SUES TRUMP FOR ALLEGED FRAUD This image contained in an Aug. 30, 2022, court filing by the Department of Justice, and redacted in part by the FBI, shows a photo of documents seized during the Aug. 8 FBI investigation of former President Donald Trump Mar- a-Lago estate in Florida. On Wednesday, an appeals court overturned a judge’s ruling that prevented the Justice Department from using classified records seized. (Department of Justice via AP) The ruling clears the way for the Justice Department to continue using the documents as it evaluates whether to bring criminal charges amid an investigation into the presence of top-secret government records kept at Mar-a-Lago. The government had argued that its investigation had been hampered by US District Judge Aileen Cannon’s order temporarily barring investigators from continuing to use the documents in the investigation. Cannon, a Trump appointee, had said the pledge would remain in place pending a separate review by an independent arbitrator she had appointed at the request of the Trump team. The FBI last month seized about 11,000 documents, including about 100 with distinctive markings, during a court-authorized search of the Palm Beach club. A criminal investigation has been launched into whether the records were tampered with or tampered with. It is unclear whether Trump or anyone else will be charged. On Sept. 5, Cannon said she would appoint an independent special master to review the records and remove those covered by the attorney-client privilege. Raymond Dearie, the former chief judge of the Brooklyn-based federal court, has been named to the role. The DOJ argued unsuccessfully that a special master was not necessary. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The Associated Press contributed to this report.
