The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday formally terminated the outside review of government documents seized from former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in an August FBI raid. The appellate court had rejected the review by a "special master" a week earlier, but stayed its decision in case Trump appealed to the Supreme Court. He did not. So the Justice Department now has unfettered access to the nearly 3,000 records taken from Mar-a-Lago under a court-approved warrant.
Convincing a Trump-appointed lower-court judge to approve a special master to oversee the documents was an unexpected win for Trump and his legal team. And the gambit did delay the Justice Department's investigation of Trump's handling of sensitive government documents for several weeks.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
How will the new tax deductions on auto loans work?the explainer Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act introduced a tax deduction on auto loan interest — but eligibility for the tax break is limited
-
Is Trump actually going to prosecute Obama for 'treason'?Today's Big Question Or is this just a distraction from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal?
-
5 best movie sequels of all timeThe Week Recommends The second time is only sometimes as good as the first
-
'Spending is what card issuers are hoping you will do'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Trump executive order targets homelessSpeed Read It will now be easier for states and cities to remove homeless people from the streets
-
Columbia pays $200M to settle with White HouseSpeed Read The Trump administration accused the school of failing to protect its Jewish students amid pro-Palestinian protests
-
Florida judge and DOJ make Epstein trouble for TrumpSpeed Read The Trump administration's request to release grand jury transcripts from the Epstein investigation was denied
-
Trump attacks Obama as Epstein furor mountsSpeed Read The Trump administration accused the Obama administration of 'treasonous' behavior during the 2016 election
-
Deportations: The growing backlashFeature New poll numbers show declining support for Trump's deportation crackdown
-
Is Stephen Colbert's 'Late Show' cancellation an omen of something worse?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION CBS said its decision to end the talk show was strictly business. But the timing and nature of the announcement has some observers wondering if there's more at play behind the scenes.
-
Trump administration releases MLK filesSpeed Read Newly released documents on the 1968 assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did not hold any new revelations, King historians said
