Trump suffers setback as appeals panel rejects Cannon ruling

A three-judge appeals court panel has granted the Justice Department's request to block aspects of U.S. District Court Judge Cannon's ruling that delayed a criminal investigation into documents seized from former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.

Cannon was found to have made a mistake when she temporarily prevented federal prosecutors from using the roughly 100 documents that were recovered from Trump's estate.

The panel ruled that Trump had not tried to show that he needed to know the information in the classified documents. He hasn't found out that the current administration doesn't require that for these documents.

Trump appointed two of the judges to the court. The third person was appointed by the president. The judges decided that the public interest was in favor of allowing the Justice Department to determine if any of the records were mishandled.

The appeals court wrote that they couldn't figure out why the person would want any of the one hundred documents with classification markings.

The appeals panel brushed aside Cannon's concern that allowing investigators access to the documents could lead to leaks of their contents.

The purpose of the United States' efforts in investigating the recovered classified documents is to limit unauthorized disclosure of the information they contain. Unauthorized officials who make improper disclosures risk their own criminal liability.

The 11th Circuit does not allow an attempt to ask the full bench to reconsider the government's motion.

Christopher Kise did not reply to the request for comment.

Cannon and a senior judge that she appointed as a special master have generally referred to the national-security documents at issue as "marked classified." The appeals court panel referred to the records as "classified."

The public dispute over potential declassification of the documents would not explain why Trump has a personal interest in them, they said.

The judges made it clear that they had little patience for Trump's freewheeling claims about the status of the 100 documents, noting that he had presented no evidence to back them up. They pointed out that there is a common sense reason for including classified markings.

The panel noted that classified documents are marked to show they are classified.