News - Middle East: A US judge has ruled in favor of former US president Donald Trump, refusing to let the Department of Justice (DOJ) immediately resume reviewing classified records seized by the FBI from the former president’s Florida mansion.

The US Justice Department is conducting an ongoing investigation into Trump’s handling of classified government records – including dozens marked “top secret,” “secret” and “confidential” – at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, after leaving office in January 2021.

The department is also investigating possible obstruction of the probe after it found that records may have been removed or concealed from the FBI in the aftermath of the Mar-a-Lago search in June.

In an injunction earlier this month, Federal Judge Aileen Cannon barred the Justice Department from using any of the records for its investigation while the so-called special master conducted their review.
The Justice Department asked the judge last week to allow it to continue scrutinizing the documents marked as classified, promising to take the case to an appeals court if Cannon ruled against their request.

But in her ruling on Thursday, Cannon dismissed the department’s request and refused to lift any part of her injunction.

“The court does not find it appropriate to accept the government’s conclusions on these important and disputed issues without further review by a neutral third party in an expedited and orderly fashion,” Cannon said.