A federal judge on Monday permanently blocked the Justice Department from releasing former special counsel Jack Smith’s report on President Donald Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents.
Smith’s report was set to become public on Tuesday without the court order.
Judge Aileen Cannon of the Southern District of Florida had dismissed the classified documents case against Trump and two other defendants, prosecuted by Smith, in July 2024, on grounds that Smith’s appointment was unconstitutional.
However, in her Monday ruling she wrote that despite her 2024 order that Smith cease his activity in the case, he continued to compile his report and submitted it to the Justice Department.
“Special Counsel Smith and his team went ahead for months, undeterred, preparing Volume II using discovery collected in connection with this proceeding and expending government funds in the process,” Cannon wrote.
“To say this chronology represents, at a minimum, a concerning breach of the spirit of the Dismissal Order is an understatement, if not an outright violation of it,” Cannon, a Trump appointee, continued.
“The Court need not countenance this brazen stratagem or effectively perpetuate the Special Counsel’s breach of this Court’s own order,” she wrote.
Smith’s first volume of his report alleged Trump participated in a conspiracy as he challenged the 2020 election outcome.
Trump and two other previously indicted individuals, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, filed a motion to block the release of the second volume.
“Special Counsel Smith, acting without lawful authority, obtained an indictment in this action and initiated proceedings that resulted in a final order of dismissal of all charges,” Cannon wrote in her decision.
“As a result, the former defendants in this case, like any other defendant in this situation, still enjoy the presumption of innocence held sacrosanct in our constitutional order.”
Cannon went on to say that the release of the second report after charges were dismissed would set an unusual precedent.
“Moreover, while it is true that former special counsels have released final reports at the conclusion of their work, it appears they have done so either after electing not to bring charges at all or after adjudications of guilt by plea or trial,” Cannon continued.
“The Court strains to find a situation in which a former special counsel has released a report after initiating criminal charges that did not result in a finding of guilt, at least not in a situation like this one, where the defendants contested the charges from the outset and still proclaim their innocence.”
