The Department of Justice (DOJ) was freed on Thursday by a federal appeals court to continue using the “thousands of documents seized from Donald Trump’s” home and resort, Mar-a-Lago. Now the DOJ can continue its criminal investigation into the previous president full bore.
Rather than fight with the DOJ, Trump seemed to give up the fight over the documents he stole from his time in the White House. The 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals made the decision to free up the documents needed for the DOJ’s investigation.
The appeals court indicated that Donald Trump, even as president, was not free to halt an investigation into himself, according to The Bloomberg News:
‘The law is clear. We cannot write a rule that allows any subject of a search warrant to block government investigations after the execution of the warrant. Nor can we write a rule that allows only former presidents to do so. Either approach would be a radical reordering of our caselaw limiting the federal courts’ involvement in criminal investigations.’
The outside special master reviewing the documents was halted, Alm law.com reported. Judge Aileen Cannon, a true Trump advocate, was installed the special master. It appears that the special master dropped the injunction that had kept the DOJ investigators from using the documents in its interrogations, once again ordered by Judge Cannon.
A three-judge panel lifted the injunction and ruled:
‘[Cannon did not have the] jurisdiction to intervene in the investigation at Trump’s request.’
Of course, the ex-president could petition the U.S. Supreme Court in the matter. Trump could also argue that the 11th Circuit Court review its findings. That way the ex-president could have pushed for a stay, which in effect would slow down the court. By waiting until Thursday, Trump forfeited his opportunity to “pause the panel’s decision.” As a result, the appeals court released a notice (mandate) making the decision final.
Trump’s spokesperson Steven Cheung released a statement that read:
‘President Trump will continue to fight against weaponization of law enforcement and pursue appropriate legal avenues to obtain the items that were brazenly and illegally seized from his home during the Biden regime’s unconstitutional raid.’
The DOJ investigators have been looking into whether some of the most secret and secure files were “mishandled.” The department as well as Special Counsel Jack Smith will be able to access all of the documents. Attorney General Merrick Garland decided to put Jack Smith in charge of the investigation after Trump announced his third try for president in the 2024 election.
Smith will handle the Mar-a-Lago special document case and Donald Trump’s January 6 failed coup.
The former president’s attorneys and the DOJ went through thousands of documents Trump had stolen in order to “categorize them” and sort out any person items belonging to 45:
‘In the Dec. 1 opinion, the panel held that the circumstances of the Mar-a-Lago seizure – including the lack of any showing that the search was illegal – failed to meet the high bar for a court to interfere with a criminal investigation before anyone faced charges. The judges wrote that Trump’s status as a former president didn’t change that analysis.‘
This should be interesting. Stay tuned.
Christie writes Gloria Christie Reports & Three White Lions Substack newsletters and a Three White Lions podcast available on Apple, Spotify, etc. She is a political journalist for the liberal online newspaper The Bipartisan Report. Written in her own unique style with a twist of humor. Christie’s Mueller Report Adventures In Bite-Sizes a real-life compelling spy mystery (in progress). Find her here on Facebook. Or at Three White Lions her book on Amazon Kindle Vella and the Gloria Christie Three White Lions podcast on Apple, Spotify, etc.
