Federal Court halts Master Mar-a-Lago special review in blow to Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court on Thursday ended an independent review of documents seized from former President Donald Trump’s estate in Florida, removing a roadblock the Justice Department said had delayed his criminal investigation into the retention of top secret government information.

The three-judge panel’s decision represents a significant victory for federal prosecutors, clearing the way for them to use in their investigation the entire tranche of documents seized in an August 8 FBI search in Mar- a-Lag o. It also amounts to a stark repudiation of the arguments of Trump’s lawyers, who for months had said the former president had the right to have a so-called “special master” conduct a neutral review of the thousands of withdrawn documents. of the property.