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Donald Trump (on November 7th)
PHOTO: SHANNON STAPLETON / REUTERS
Donald Trump had just had to accept bankruptcy before the US Supreme Court in a dispute over his tax returns - now it is the next legal defeat.
The former US President has suffered a setback in a federal appeals court in a dispute over official documents confiscated from his villa.
The court in Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday rejected Trump's efforts to prevent investigators from evaluating the confiscated documents.
It also found that the search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago luxury home in Florida did not violate the ex-president's rights.
"It is indeed exceptional for a search warrant to be executed on the home of a former President," the Court of Appeals declared.
However, this does not give the judiciary “the right to interfere in an ongoing investigation”.
The search was not illegal.
The appeals court unanimously overturned an earlier decision by a Florida judge to appoint a special assessor to review the documents.
This would have made the investigators' work more difficult and slowed down.
FBI investigators searched Mar-a-Lago on August 8 and confiscated thousands of documents.
These are papers that Trump took with him from the White House at the end of his term in office, although outgoing presidents are required to turn over all official records to the National Archives.
Possible violation of espionage law
Dozens of files marked "top secret", "secret" or "confidential" were confiscated during the Mar-a-Lago raid.
According to media reports, a top-secret document on another country's nuclear weapons was also found on Trump's premises.
The ex-president is suspected of violating an espionage law that sets strict standards for the retention of national security documents.
US Presidents are required to hand over all official documents, including emails and letters, upon leaving office.
Trump describes the raid as politically motivated.
He accuses President Joe Biden's Democrats of abusing the judiciary.
After recently publicly declaring his renewed ambitions for the White House, he is likely to make this accusation more often in the future.
jok/AFP