WASHINGTON — A three-judge panel ruled Wednesday that a special master should not have been appointed to review materials the FBI recovered from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
The decision allows the Justice Department to resume using those materials as part of its investigation into whether Trump mishandled classified records and obstructed justice. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon had ordered the government not to use the materials while the review took place, limiting for months what evidence the department could access during it’s investigation.
During brief arguments before the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta last week, the three judges suggested that Trump and his legal team wanted special treatment that would not have been granted to any other American by allowing him the opportunity to challenge the search warrant executed at his home long before charges had been brought. They also said that the case did not appear to clear the bar for appointing a special master, a type of independent expert used in some legal cases.
