West Palm Beach, Florida – Judge Aileen M. Cannon has scheduled a hearing for lawyers representing Donald Trump to challenge evidence gathered against the former president. Trump faces allegations of mishandling classified documents and obstructing government efforts to retrieve them. The hearing comes after FBI agents found 103 classified documents during a search of Trump’s Florida home and private club, Mar-a-Lago.

Judge Cannon’s 11-page order stated that further investigation is needed regarding Trump’s challenge to the search warrant for Mar-a-Lago. Trump, who is the presumptive Republican candidate for the November election, is seeking to suppress much of the evidence by arguing that the search warrant was flawed.

As part of her ruling, Judge Cannon also granted Trump’s defense lawyers a hearing to determine if prosecutors misused statements by one of Trump’s former attorneys. A separate order will be issued shortly to schedule the hearing for these issues in court.

Following the judge’s decision, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung applauded the ruling and criticized the Justice Department for its treatment of Trump. However, Attorney General Merrick Garland emphasized that politics do not influence the decisions of Justice Department prosecutors.

Trump’s lawyer, Emil Bove, argued during recent hearings that the FBI agent’s affidavit for the search warrant was too vague. Special counsel Jack Smith, on the other hand, defended the thoroughness of the search warrant and affidavit. The dispute led to Judge Cannon approving an evidentiary hearing to address the concerns raised by Trump’s legal team.

Despite Trump’s demands, Judge Cannon rejected a request for a Franks hearing to investigate potential false claims made by the FBI agent in the affidavit for the search warrant. The classified documents trial has been delayed as Judge Cannon explores the details of the case and the appointment and funding of special counsels, much to the frustration of special counsel Smith and his team.