A federal appeals court granted the Justice Department permission to resume using classified documents seized from the former president’s Florida estate as part of its ongoing criminal investigation.
The decision from a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit amounts to a decisive victory for the Justice Department, allowing investigators to continue examining the documents as they consider whether to file criminal charges regarding the storage of top-secret documents at Mar-a-Lago after former President Donald Trump left office.
The court also made it clear that Trump had not shown any proof that he had declassified the sensitive records, as he has repeatedly claimed. It also ruled that Trump did not have a “personal interest in or need for” the roughly 100 classified documents.
The government argued that an order from U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon temporarily prohibiting investigators from continuing to use the documents in their investigation impeded its investigation.
Cannon, a Trump appointee, stated that the hold would remain in effect pending a separate review by an impartial arbitrator she had appointed at the request of the Trump team.
The appeals panel shared the concerns of the Department of Justice.
The authors wrote, “It is self-evident that the public has a strong interest in ensuring that the storage of classified records did not result in ‘exceptionally grave damage to national security.'”
“Establishing this,” they continued, “requires reviewing the documents, determining who had access to them and when, and determining which (if any) sources or methods have been compromised.”
An injunction that delays or prevents the criminal investigation “from using classified materials” risks causing substantial harm to the United States and the general public.
Trump nominated two of the three judges who issued the ruling on Wednesday, Britt Grant and Andrew Brasher, to the 11th Circuit. The nomination of Judge Robin Rosenbaum was made by former President Barack Obama.
During a court-authorized search of the Palm Beach Mar-a-Lago club last month, the FBI seized approximately 11,000 documents, 100 of which contained classified markings.
It has initiated a criminal investigation to determine whether the documents were mishandled or compromised.
It is unclear whether Trump or others will face charges.
