A federal judge on Monday intervened in the criminal investigation into Donald Trump’s handling of sensitive state documents. Aileen M. Cannon, a judge who Trump himself nominated, has decided to appoint an independent auditor to review the more than 11,000 documents the FBI seized from the former president’s Florida villa last month. The FBI investigation is therefore considerably delayed.
Trump has no complaints about Cannon’s decision. Not only did the judge give him his way; she granted the so-called special master broad powers. It was expected to filter out only those documents from the stack that are protected by attorney-client privilege, which guarantees confidentiality between Trump and his attorneys.
Cannon goes beyond that. She also allowed the independent auditor to filter the documents by the executive privilege, the United States President’s exceptional right to withhold certain confidential information from the judiciary. In addition, she has more or less called a halt to the FBI investigation: until the special master is completed, federal prosecutors will not be allowed to use the seized documents in their investigation.
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Spicy details
The verdict is not unexpected. The judge never made a secret of its intention to install an independent auditor — even before the US Department of Justice formulated its counter-arguments last week. New spicy details surfaced: that Trump most likely deliberately hid classified documents in his Florida residence, thereby trying to undermine the FBI’s investigation into him.
On August 8, the FBI conducted an unprecedented unannounced search of a former president’s home at Trump’s Florida estate. A previously released search warrant and a list of seized items have revealed that some of the material found in Trump’s residence had “top secret” status, requiring protocols to be stored in government facilities. In doing so, Trump may have violated several laws, including espionage legislation.
If the U.S. government decides to challenge Cannon’s verdict, the appeal will be heard in an Atlanta court, where six of the 11 judges were appointed by Trump himself.