Judge permanently blocks release of Trump classified documents report
Law enforcement shouldn't be political.
A federal judge permanently barred the Justice Department on Monday from releasing the portion of former special counsel Jack Smith’s final report detailing his investigation into President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents, delivering a sharp rebuke of the prosecutor’s actions after the case had already been dismissed.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, granted requests from Trump and former co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira to prohibit publication of the report’s second volume and ordered that it not be released or shared by Attorney General Pam Bondi or any future DOJ leadership.
Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith, center, and his attorney Lanny A. Breuer, right, arriving before Smith’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee about his investigations into President Donald Trump, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
In a 15-page decision, Cannon said Smith lacked lawful authority to pursue the case and criticized what she described as his continued work on the report even after she ruled in July 2024 that his appointment as special counsel was unconstitutional and dismissed the charges.
“Special Counsel Smith, acting without lawful authority, obtained an indictment in this action,” Cannon wrote, emphasizing that Trump and his co-defendants “still enjoy the presumption of innocence held sacrosanct in our constitutional order.”
Cannon accused Smith of pressing ahead with the report despite the court’s earlier ruling.
“Special Counsel Smith and his team went ahead for months, undeterred, preparing [the report] using discovery collected in connection with this proceeding and expending government funds in the process,” she wrote, calling the sequence of events “a concerning breach of the spirit of the Dismissal Order,” and describing it as a “brazen stratagem.”
In this image from video provided by the Senate, Aileen M. Cannon speaks remotely during a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight nomination hearing to be U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on July 29, 2020, in Washington. (U.S. Senate via AP)
The judge also noted that the report contains “voluminous discovery” still governed by a protective order, warning that public release could expose large amounts of material gathered during the abandoned prosecution.
Smith brought charges in 2023 alleging Trump improperly retained sensitive government records at …
Law enforcement shouldn't be political.
A federal judge permanently barred the Justice Department on Monday from releasing the portion of former special counsel Jack Smith’s final report detailing his investigation into President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents, delivering a sharp rebuke of the prosecutor’s actions after the case had already been dismissed.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, granted requests from Trump and former co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira to prohibit publication of the report’s second volume and ordered that it not be released or shared by Attorney General Pam Bondi or any future DOJ leadership.
Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith, center, and his attorney Lanny A. Breuer, right, arriving before Smith’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee about his investigations into President Donald Trump, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
In a 15-page decision, Cannon said Smith lacked lawful authority to pursue the case and criticized what she described as his continued work on the report even after she ruled in July 2024 that his appointment as special counsel was unconstitutional and dismissed the charges.
“Special Counsel Smith, acting without lawful authority, obtained an indictment in this action,” Cannon wrote, emphasizing that Trump and his co-defendants “still enjoy the presumption of innocence held sacrosanct in our constitutional order.”
Cannon accused Smith of pressing ahead with the report despite the court’s earlier ruling.
“Special Counsel Smith and his team went ahead for months, undeterred, preparing [the report] using discovery collected in connection with this proceeding and expending government funds in the process,” she wrote, calling the sequence of events “a concerning breach of the spirit of the Dismissal Order,” and describing it as a “brazen stratagem.”
In this image from video provided by the Senate, Aileen M. Cannon speaks remotely during a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight nomination hearing to be U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on July 29, 2020, in Washington. (U.S. Senate via AP)
The judge also noted that the report contains “voluminous discovery” still governed by a protective order, warning that public release could expose large amounts of material gathered during the abandoned prosecution.
Smith brought charges in 2023 alleging Trump improperly retained sensitive government records at …
Judge permanently blocks release of Trump classified documents report
Law enforcement shouldn't be political.
A federal judge permanently barred the Justice Department on Monday from releasing the portion of former special counsel Jack Smith’s final report detailing his investigation into President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents, delivering a sharp rebuke of the prosecutor’s actions after the case had already been dismissed.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, granted requests from Trump and former co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira to prohibit publication of the report’s second volume and ordered that it not be released or shared by Attorney General Pam Bondi or any future DOJ leadership.
Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith, center, and his attorney Lanny A. Breuer, right, arriving before Smith’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee about his investigations into President Donald Trump, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
In a 15-page decision, Cannon said Smith lacked lawful authority to pursue the case and criticized what she described as his continued work on the report even after she ruled in July 2024 that his appointment as special counsel was unconstitutional and dismissed the charges.
“Special Counsel Smith, acting without lawful authority, obtained an indictment in this action,” Cannon wrote, emphasizing that Trump and his co-defendants “still enjoy the presumption of innocence held sacrosanct in our constitutional order.”
Cannon accused Smith of pressing ahead with the report despite the court’s earlier ruling.
“Special Counsel Smith and his team went ahead for months, undeterred, preparing [the report] using discovery collected in connection with this proceeding and expending government funds in the process,” she wrote, calling the sequence of events “a concerning breach of the spirit of the Dismissal Order,” and describing it as a “brazen stratagem.”
In this image from video provided by the Senate, Aileen M. Cannon speaks remotely during a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight nomination hearing to be U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on July 29, 2020, in Washington. (U.S. Senate via AP)
The judge also noted that the report contains “voluminous discovery” still governed by a protective order, warning that public release could expose large amounts of material gathered during the abandoned prosecution.
Smith brought charges in 2023 alleging Trump improperly retained sensitive government records at …
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