Court lifts hold on Mar-a-Lago records

Washington DC: In a stark repudiation of Donald Trump's legal arguments, a federal appeals court on Wednesday permitted the Justice Department to resume its use of classified records seized from the former president's Florida estate as part of its ongoing criminal

investigation.

The ruling from a three-judge panel of the US 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 evaluate whether to bring criminal charges over the storage of of top-secret records at Mar-a-Lago after Trump left the White House.

The court also pointedly noted that Trump had presented no evidence that he had declassified the sensitive records, as he has repeatedly maintained, and rejected the possibility that Trump could have an "individual interest in or need for" the roughly 100 documents marked as classified.

The government had argued that its investigation had been impeded by an order from US District Judge Aileen Cannon that temporarily barred investigators from continuing to use the documents in its probe.

Cannon, a Trump appointee, had said the hold would remain in place pending a separate review by an independent arbiter she had appointed at the Trump team's request.