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.

Trump’s bid to appeal Howell’s ruling unfolded with extraordinary speed on Tuesday and overnight into Wednesday.

After setting middle-of-the-night deadlines for filings in the dispute, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday afternoon declined Trump’s request for a stay of Howell’s ruling, ordering attorney Evan Corcoran to provide records to a Washington-based grand jury assigned to the special counsel’s probe.