A U.S. federal judge has ordered an independent judge to review the sensitive government records seized last month from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.

On Monday, Aileen M. Cannon of the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Florida ruled that the Justice Department would halt using the seized materials for any “investigative purpose” connected to its ongoing inquiry of Mr Trump until the independent judge, known as a special master, completed their review. 

Ms Cannon, in a 24-page ruling, said her decision was “to ensure at least the appearance of fairness and integrity under the extraordinary circumstances.” 

Mr Trump “ultimately may not be entitled to return of much of the seized property or to prevail on his anticipated claims of [executive] privilege. That inquiry remains for another day,” Ms Cannon wrote. “For now, the circumstances surrounding the seizure in this case and the associated need for adequate procedural safeguards are sufficiently compelling to at least get Plaintiff past the courthouse doors.”

However, the ruling does not affect a separate review of the documents led by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

The order would stop federal prosecutors from using a key piece of evidence as they continue investigating whether Mr Trump illegally retained national defence documents at his estate.

Last week, the Justice Department argued that authorising a special master to review the seized material would be unnecessary as Mr Trump is a former president and the department is a part of the executive branch.

However, Ms Cannon disagreed, saying she was “not convinced” that the government’s assertion that executive privilege applied noted that setting aside any documents that could be shielded by executive privilege as the legal issues in the case are sorted out made sense to her.

The FBI raided Mar-A-Lago on August 9 for White House documents that Mr Trump carried back to his Florida estate. The search was conducted after the Trump team handed over 15 materials in January and a grand jury subpoena gave way to another envelope of documents. Still, federal investigators seized 33 boxes of materials, including over 100 classified documents.