The Department of Justice requested an expedited ruling in its appeal of the appointment of a special master to examine the classified documents obtained during a raid of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
The department’s inability to access nonclassified documents seized in an FBI raid last month is hampering its investigation into whether Trump illegally moved classified information out of the White House during his presidency, the department claimed in a court filing to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday.
TRUMP MAR-A-LAGO COURT FILING REVEALS ALMOST 200,000 PAGES OF DOCUMENTS WERE FOUND
The acceleration would allow the department to “more quickly resume its full investigation without restraints on its review and use of evidence seized pursuant to a lawful search warrant,” the department said. “Expediting the appeal would serve the interests of justice because the portions of the district court’s injunction that have not been stayed restrict the government’s ability to vindicate the strong public interest in proceeding expeditiously with the criminal and national security investigation that underlies these proceedings.”
DOJ says that its inability to access the nonclassified documents held at Trump’s estate are still hampering significant aspects of their investigation that pertain to the classified records.
They want an expedited schedule that runs through mid-November. https://t.co/y6QhIXMJGX pic.twitter.com/ilTbwf0TAO
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) September 30, 2022
The proposal included a request to expedite the deadline for written briefs to Nov. 11, the next phase in the investigation. Currently, the deadline for the briefs is one month later. No date for oral arguments has been set so far, according to CNN.
The nonclassified records “may shed light” on how the documents were transferred to and stored at the estate, the department claimed.
Earlier this month, the appeals court overturned elements of Judge Aileen Cannon’s original ruling, allowing the DOJ to continue its criminal investigation. Cannon, a district judge in Florida who appointed Judge Raymond Dearie to be special master earlier this month, temporarily enjoined “the Government from reviewing and using the seized materials for investigative purposes pending completion of the special master’s review or further Court order.”
Roughly 100 documents confiscated from Mar-a-Lago during the Aug. 8 search and seizure bore classified markings, according to court documents. Material collected ranged from confidential to top secret, according to an affidavit for the raid.
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The DOJ is investigating possible violations of the Espionage Act and obstruction of justice, with Trump vehemently denying wrongdoing, publicly declaring that a president can declassify material “even by thinking about it.”
Notably, his legal team previously conceded that “it would be appropriate for the special master to possess a Top Secret/SCI security clearance” to review the documents.
