A federal appeal in court was directed to former US President Donald Trump's lawyer to submit documents in the investigation into Trump's retention of classified records at his Florida estate.

The ruling is considered a significant win for the Justice Department, which for months focused on the hoarding of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago and Trump representative's resistance to turning the files over. 

Prosecutors argued behind closed doors that Trump might have been using his legal representation to further a crime. It seems like the court sided with the persecutors on this one.

A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit made the order in a brief online notice. 

Details are scarce and appear to correspond with a secret fight before a lower court judge about whether Trump's lawyer could be forced to turn in documents and give testimony before a grand jury in the Justice Department.

Corcoran's role in the case

Corcoran is considered relevant to the investigation since he drafted a statement last year to the Justice Department asserting that a "diligent search" for classified documents has been conducted as Mar-a-Lago following the subpoena. 

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Christina Bobb, another Trump lawyer, announced last fall that Corocan has drafted the letter and asked her to sign it as a designated custodian of Trump's records.

It is being examined if Trump or anyone in his orbit truly exerted efforts to recover classified documents by a Justice Department investigation led by special counsel Jack Smith and his team of prosecutors. 

This inquiry adds to multiple legal threats Trump is facing, other than probes in Atlanta and Washington over a hush-money case, although the New York case seems to be nearing completion and building toward an indictment. 

Read more: Hush money could prove falsified business records and indict Trump

Attorney-client privilege

The outgoing chief judge of the US District Court, Beryl Howell, asked Corcoran to answer additional questions last week before the grand jury. Corocan had previously invoked attorney-client privilege to avoid answering specific questions. 

Even though attorney-client privilege shields lawyers from being forced to share details about their conversations with their clients before prosecutors, the Justice Department can get around it if they were able to convince a judge that the lawyer was being used in furtherance of a crime, as "crime-fraud".

Read more: Trump snatched classified material from the White House to Mar-a-Lago

Howell ruled in the Justice Department’s favor on Friday. The ruling was subsequently appealed, and the court records show the dispute which took place before the federal appeals panel concerned an order that was issued last Friday by Howell. 

The order came just hours after the court imposed the deadlines on both sides to file written briefs on who is making their case.