(CNN) — The review by an independent expert of the evidence seized at Mar-a-Lago, the residence of former President Donald Trump, will not continue.
On Monday, Judge Aileen Cannon formally dismissed the case, in which Trump sought to challenge the seizure of evidence at Mar-a-Lago and in which she appointed independent expert Raymond Dearie, another judge, to make recommendations on whether the Prosecutors might access the evidence.
The decision to dismiss the case now gives the Justice Department full access to thousands of records and other artifacts found among documents marked classified at the beach club and Trump’s private office.
Cannon’s move comes following a higher appeals court ruled that the judge did not have the authority to become involved in the Justice Department’s criminal investigation before charges are filed. The court told Cannon that the case should be dismissed and that there will be no further proceedings before her in the Southern District of Florida.
The new order concludes what had been a rare silver lining for Trump in his attempts to stymie mounting investigations into his conduct.
Cannon — whom Trump appointed to federal court in Ft. Pierce, Fla., which is in the same judicial district as Mar-a-Lago — drew criticism from across the ideological spectrum for the way he handled the lawsuit filed by Trump days following the FBI raid on his private residence.
That criticism culminated in a scathing opinion from the appeals court panel, packed with GOP nominees, that tore apart Trump’s and Cannon’s justification for why an independent expert was necessary.
For the review, Cannon tasked Dearie, a Brooklyn judge, with resolving disputes between Trump and the Justice Department over whether certain documents obtained in the search should be withheld from federal investigators.
Although Dearie was tasked with making recommendations on those issues, Cannon was to be the final arbitrator on those disputes until the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled that the appointment of an independent expert was not warranted. .
Because Cannon prevented Justice Department investigators from using the seized documents in their criminal investigation while the special expert process was ongoing, the review might delay the Justice Department process. The department is evaluating whether three criminal statutes were violated in the way sensitive government documents from the Trump White House were brought to and stored at Mar-a-Lago.
Earlier in the litigation, the Justice Department obtained an exception from the 11th Circuit allowing officials to use documents marked as classified that were seized in the search in their investigation.
And there were other signs that the investigation has moved forward even while large parts of it were on hold. The federal grand jury overseeing the investigation has heard testimony from Trump advisers in recent weeks.
The investigation is now in the hands of the fiscal especial Jack Smithwho has underlined his desire not to let it slow down.
Still, prosecutors warned that the review hampered their ability to question witnesses regarding how certain documents were handled and mixed with Trump’s personal effects at his home.
Trump had argued that some of the documents the FBI obtained were covered by attorney-client privilege, executive privilege or were of a personal nature, placing them outside the bounds of criminal investigation.
Although the independent expert’s order had the effect of hampering aspects of the department’s investigation, it also led to unprecedented insight into the investigation of the documents, even for Trump’s legal team, as the Justice Department argued before the court that third party review was not necessary.
