On Monday, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon permanently barred the release of former special counsel Jack Smith’s report reviewing President Donald Trump’s classified documents case.
Cannon wrote that the release of the report “would cause irreparable damage to former defendants” in the case, which in addition to Trump include former co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira.
Cannon previously determined Smith was unlawfully appointed.
“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 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 though it is true that special counsels have historically released reports at the conclusion of their work, they have done so either after electing 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.”
Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home was searched by the FBI in the summer of 2022 after the National Archives had repeatedly pressed Trump to return missing items from his time in office that belonged to the archives.
The FBI raid found allegedly classified documents and other presidential materials in boxes throughout his property, including stored in public spaces like bathrooms. A grand jury indictment subsequently charged Trump with 40 felony counts related to the mishandling of classified materials.
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