A US judge has granted a request by a House of Representatives committee for access to information that was blacked out of former special counsel Robert Mueller's report on his investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 US election.
Judge Beryl Howell in Washington gave the US Justice Department a deadline of 30 October to hand over the materials to the House Judiciary Committee.
The committee's need for disclosure of the materials "is greater than the need for continued secrecy," the judge said.
The ruling is a major victory for House Democrats, who sought access to the redacted materials as part of their effort to build a case for removing US President Donald Trump from office through impeachment proceedings.
A Justice Department spokeswoman could not be immediately reached for comment.
The Mueller probe found that the Russian state ran a hacking and propaganda operation to disrupt the US election and undermine Republican Trump's Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.
Mr Mueller found insufficient evidence to establish that Trump and his campaign had engaged in a criminal conspiracy with Russia.
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Mr Trump, who calls the Russia investigation a witch hunt and a hoax, says US officials launched the probe to undermine his chances of winning the White House, although he and his supporters have provided no evidence.
Mr Trump is also grappling with a Democratic-led impeachment inquiry focused on his request in a July telephone call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate former vice president Joe Biden, who is a leading contender for the Democratic presidential nomination to face Trump in the 2020 election.
Meanwhile, a US Justice Department review of the origins of the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election is now a criminal investigation, a person familiar with the matter said.
The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to say whether a grand jury had been convened in the investigation.
The development was first reported by the New York Times.
US Attorney General William Barr launched a review earlier this year to investigate Mr Trump's complaints that his campaign was improperly targeted by US intelligence and law enforcement agencies during the 2016 election.
Democrats and some former law enforcement officials say Mr Barr is using the Justice Department to chase unsubstantiated conspiracy theories that could benefit the Republican president politically and undermine former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.
