According to an article published by The Hill, a Florida federal judge’s decision to grant Trump’s request for special master to appoint an expert witness to analyze the documents recovered at Mar-a-Lago, many highly classified, will delay the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) investigation for at least a few weeks and force the agency to weigh whether and how to battle the decision.

This move represents a win for Donald Trump, who had pushed for the appointment of a third-party special master to review documents seized by FBI after they searched his Mar-a-Lago property August 8.

US government cannot do anything with the evidence that it´s seized till it´s blessed to do so, expressly authorized to do so, by this judge, which means that the investigation is essentially held hostage at the moment, Jeff Robbins, a former federal prosecutor and congressional investigative counsel, told The Hill.

The decision is viewed as unusual and has triggered some criticism of District Judge Aileen Cannon, the Trump appointee who issued the order on Monday and who some argue appeared too solicitous of the former president.

In her ruling on Monday, Judge Cannon found Trump “retained some executive privileges after his term ended.”

Trump accused DOJ of launching a partisan witch hunt against him and his defense attorneys argued that appointing an independent third party to review the documents would be a good way to exert control over the government.

The judge gave the former president’s legal team and the DOJ to submit a list of possible expert witness candidates until Friday.

But beyond this week, it is unclear how the timetable will unfold, The Hill said, noting that an appeal by the DOJ would add to the delay in the investigation.

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