A federal judge on Monday permanently blocked the release of a report by special counsel Jack Smith regarding his investigation into US President Donald Trump’s retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, as reported by Associated Press.
US District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, approved the former president’s request to keep the report from public view, halting disclosure of a criminal investigation that had been considered a serious legal threat to him.
Smith and his team compiled a two-volume report detailing investigations into Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election after losing to Joe Biden, as well as his retention of classified documents at his Palm Beach, Florida estate following his first term in the White House.
Both investigations initially led to indictments, but Smith’s team dropped them after Trump’s November 2024 election victory, citing longstanding Justice Department guidelines that a sitting president cannot be federally prosecuted.
Cannon, who in 2024 dismissed the case after concluding that Smith was unlawfully appointed, said the release of the report would present a “manifest injustice” to Trump and his two co-defendants.
“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,” she wrote, as reported by AP, adding, “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.”
She said that although it is true that special counsels have historically released reports at the conclusion of their work, they have done so either after declining not to bring charges in a particular case or “after adjudications of guilt by plea or trial.”
“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.”
