A federal appeals court has rejected Donald Trump's bid to prevent special counsel Jack Smith from obtaining key documents from a lawyer for the former president related to the handling of sensitive national security records discovered at Trump's Florida home last year.

The ruling effectively permits the Justice Department to circumvent Trump's attorney-client privilege after a lower-court judge found that the documents likely contain evidence of a crime. That finding by U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell on Friday triggers the "crime-fraud" exception to the usual attorney-client secrecy, the judge ruled.