In a landmark move, a federal appeals court has lifted the hold on records obtained during the FBI's August 8 raid on Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence.
This allows the United States Department of Justice to resume its ongoing criminal investigation into the 45th President.
The Associated Press reported on the situation, noting:
The ruling from a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit amounts to an overwhelming victory for the Justice Department, clearing the way for investigators to continue scrutinizing the documents as they consider whether to bring criminal charges over the storage of of top-secret records at Mar-a-Lago after Trump left the White House. In lifting a hold on a core aspect of the department’s probe, the court removed an obstacle that could have delayed the investigation by weeks.
The outlet also noted that yesterday, Trump -- who found himself the subject of a $250 million civil lawsuit filed by the New York Attorney General within mere hours of the interview -- boldly told Fox News, “If you’re the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying ‘It’s declassified.’ Even by thinking about it...You’re the president, you make that decision."
This latest court ruling comes soon after Trump returned to his Florida residence, Mar-a-Lago [above], following the August 8 FBI raid of the property.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, in fact, specifically addressed Mar-a-Lago in her comments about the fraud lawsuit, saying that the property "generated less than $25 million in annual revenue. It should have been valued at about $75 million, but it was valued at $739 million.”
Furthermore, this new ruling comes on the heels of the Department of Justice releasing a 36-page report relating to the now-infamous occurrence at Trump's Florida home. In the document, the DoJ confirms that Trump "likely obstructed" a government investigation with intent.
Following the release of the report, Trump retained former Florida solicitor Chris Kise, who has close ties to both Governor Ron DeSantis (R) and Senator Rick Scott (R).
Previously, the Washington Post reported that the FBI executed its search warrant after "federal authorities grew increasingly concerned that Trump or his lawyers and aides had not, in fact, returned all the documents and other material that were government property, according to people familiar with the discussions."
Trump has reportedly threatened to cause "big problems" if he is indicted, which seems to be increasingly likely by the day.
It is important to note that the legal issues outlined here are not directly connected to the ongoing election probe in Georgia or the Allen Weisselberg plea deal.
What do you think about the latest development in the Trump criminal investigation?
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