Former US President Donald Trump suffered another defeat in the legal dispute over the review of classified government documents seized from him. An appeals court ruled Thursday evening (local time) that it was illegal to appoint a special representative to review documents seized at Trump’s request during a search of the ex-president’s private residence.
Trump had won the neutral investigator’s appeal in court — and stopped authorities from using parts of the seized documents until his work was completed. This has now been stopped for now. For the Justice Department, which is investigating Trump, this is a success.
The Federal Police FBI searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago mansion in Florida in August and seized numerous classified documents, some of them at the highest level of classification. By law, this material should have been transferred to the National Archives. Among the thousands of documents, according to the FBI, were about 100 classified as classified. By keeping the documents in his private residence after Trump left office, he could have made himself prosecuted. It is still unclear whether he can eventually be prosecuted.
Trump criticizes authorities’ actions against him as politically motivated and sees it as an attempt to prevent him from returning to the White House. The Republican has now officially announced that he wants to run for his party again in the 2024 presidential election. Whether the Republicans will eventually make him their candidate remains to be seen.
The former president had defended himself in court against the investigations: Trump’s team was now successful in appointing the neutral investigator for the documents. His job: to filter out documents that fall under the attorney-client privilege. However, Trump has faced setbacks in the legal dispute several times.
The Justice Department succeeded in exonerating the approximately 100 documents marked secret from the investigation and continuing to use them in the investigations against Trump. Trump tried to have this stopped by the Supreme Court, but also suffered a defeat there. The fact that the appointment of the special accountant was now generally regarded as unlawful is another setback for him.
The appeals court wrote in the order released Thursday evening (local time) that the court ruling on the appointment of the special counsel had no jurisdiction to prohibit the state from using lawfully seized documents in criminal investigations. “The law is clear,” the decision said. There cannot be a rule that allows the subject of a search warrant to block government investigations after the search warrant has been executed. “Nor can we make a rule that only allows former presidents to do this.”
In view of Trump’s new presidential ambitions, the US Justice Department has now turned the politically sensitive investigations of classified government documents into the hands of an outside special investigator. (sda/dpa)
Soource :Watson
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
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