A US judge has permanently barred the release of a special counsel’s report on the classified documents case against President Donald Trump, citing fairness concerns.
FLORIDA: US District Judge Aileen Cannon on Monday permanently barred the Justice Department from releasing a prosecutor’s report on the criminal case accusing President Donald Trump of unlawfully retaining classified documents.
Judge Cannon, who was appointed to the bench by Trump in 2020, found that releasing the report would be a “manifest injustice” to the Republican and two former associates charged alongside him.
She stated it would detail substantial allegations of criminal wrongdoing in a case that never reached a jury.
Cannon dismissed all charges in the case in 2024.
Trump was accused by Special Counsel Jack Smith of illegally storing documents related to US national defense, including nuclear secrets, at his Mar-a-Lago club and obstructing government efforts to retrieve them.
Cannon ruled that Smith had not been lawfully appointed by the Justice Department during President Joe Biden’s administration.
Disclosure of the report “would contravene basic notions of fairness and justice in the process, where no adjudication of guilt has been reached following initiation of criminal charges,” Cannon wrote.
Trump attorney Kendra Wharton welcomed the order.
She stated that “any and all fruit of Smith’s poisonous tree” should “never see the light of day.”
Trump and his co-defendants, aide Walt Nauta and manager Carlos de Oliveira, had pleaded not guilty and argued the case was politically motivated.
They urged Cannon to block the report’s release, which details Smith’s justification for seeking charges.
The Justice Department under Trump supported those arguments, calling the report a confidential document.
Government watchdog group American Oversight criticised the ruling.
“Judge Cannon’s ruling continues a troubling pattern of decisions that shield the president from public scrutiny and place secrecy above the public’s right to know,” said executive director Chioma Chukwu.
The Justice Department under Biden dropped an attempt to revive the case after Trump won the 2024 election.
Special counsels are required to draft reports to the attorney general detailing their conclusions on whether to seek charges.
The Justice Department released Smith’s report on a separate, dismissed case accusing Trump of plotting to overturn the 2020 election shortly before Trump returned to the presidency.
Cannon initially barred disclosure of the documents case report to Congress, citing the ongoing case against Nauta and de Oliveira.
The Justice Department dropped charges against Nauta and de Oliveira after Trump returned to office last year.
In Monday’s ruling, Cannon also cited concerns about releasing confidential grand jury information.
She concluded that Smith’s drafting of the report circumvented her earlier order finding him unlawfully appointed.