A federal judge has ended the special master review of government documents seized from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence, giving the Justice Department full access to thousands of materials in its investigation.
U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon dismissed the case Monday, a move that was widely expected after Mr. Trump’s legal team said it would not appeal a ruling by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals terminating the special master.
The move, which was merely a procedural one, will likely increase the pace of the Justice Department probe into whether Mr. Trump illegally retained classified government documents. That could increase the legal jeopardy surrounding him as he seeks to return to the White House in 2024.
Mr. Trump is also under investigation for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election culminating with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. A grand jury in Georgia is reviewing those efforts.
In New York, a Manhattan jury found two Trump Organizations companies guilty on multiple charges of tax fraud and falsifying business records. Although Mr. Trump wasn’t charged, prosecutors repeatedly mentioned his connection to some of the benefits doled out to executives to avoid payroll taxes.
Judge Cannon’s order, issued in a South Florida federal court, terminated all hearings, deadlines and motions that were pending in the case. That includes Mr. Trump’s efforts to obtain an unredacted version of the search warrant affidavit used in the raid.
The 11th Circuit concluded that Judge Cannon did not have the authority to appoint veteran federal Judge Raymond Dearie to decide if any of the documents seized at Mar-a-Lago were protected by executive or attorney-client privilege. Any documents deemed privileged would be off-limits to Justice Department investigators probing whether Mr. Trump violated the Espionage Act by illegally mishandling documents.
A three-judge panel on the 11th Circuit, which included two judges appointed by Mr. Trump, issued a scathing opinion slamming Judge Cannon‘s reasoning for appointing the special master.
“Dismissal of the entire proceeding is required,” the panel said.
“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,” the judges wrote.
The termination of Judge Dearie as special master is expected to speed up the Justice Department probe, which had slowed considerably while his team reviewed documents. He had begun his work in September but stopped it earlier this month after the 11th Circuit decision, halting the case by roughly three months.
Special counsel Jack Smith has recently taken over the investigation and has emphasized that he wants the investigation to proceed swiftly.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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