While prosecutors had already appealed parts of U.S. District Court Judge Elaine M. Cannon’s special master’s appointment, Friday was the first time they appealed the entire ruling. If the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit sides with the government, the special master’s review will be halted — and criminal investigators will once again be able to access thousands of unclassified documents that FBI agents obtained from Mar -a-Lago in August. The government said in its appeal that these unclassified documents are critical to the ongoing criminal investigation into possible mishandling of classified material, obstruction and destruction of government records and could help them interview witnesses and corroborate evidence. Special Masters and Trump’s Mar-a-Lago documents: What you need to know “In short, unclassified records stored collectively with classified records may identify who was responsible for the unauthorized retention of those records, the relevant time periods in which the records were created or accessed, and who may have access or view them. “, the filing states. The Atlanta-based appeals court said Trump’s lawyers have until Nov. 10 to file their response. As part of their appeal, Justice Department lawyers updated the number of documents obtained from Mar-a-Lago, previously said to be about 11,000 but now numbering about 13,000. Trump’s lawyers made the request two weeks after seeking an outside expert to sift through the seized materials — including 103 classified documents — to determine whether they are protected by attorney-client or executive privilege and should be shielded from criminal investigators. A witness who says Trump asked him to move boxes was a former White House staffer Prosecutors argued in Friday’s 53-page filing that Trump is not entitled to claim any form of privilege over government documents, making a review by a Brooklyn-based federal judge, Raymond J. Diary, unnecessary. Cannon had initially ordered the special master to review both the classified and unclassified material and barred the Justice Department from using any of the documents in its criminal investigation until that review was done. A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit overturned part of that ruling, which removed the classified material from Dearie’s control and allowed investigators to use those documents immediately. On Thursday, the Supreme Court rejected a petition from Trump’s lawyers asking it to reconsider part of the appeals court’s ruling on narrow, technical grounds. Cannon said Dearie will have until December to complete his review of the unclassified documents.
