Judge Aileen Cannon Blocks Release of Jack Smith's Special Counsel Report

Trump-appointed District Judge Aileen Cannon blocked the release of Special Counsel Jack Smith's report on his investigations into Donald Trump and two of his employees.

The two investigations included mishandling classified documents and interference in the 2020 election. The hold in releasing the report is to allow the 11th Circuit Court to review the emergency motion by Trump’s codefendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, who were charged in the mishandling of classified documents case with obstruction-related crimes.

Nauta and De Oliveira argued Monday that the release of the report would “irreversibly and irredeemably” prejudice them as defendants. Defense attorneys are also unhappy with the small number of redactions in the final report. The defense team also complained about the “limited-access” review of the draft over the weekend and that it “revealed a one-sided narrative arguing that the Defendants committed the crimes charged in this case.”

Judge Cannon ruled last summer that the appointment of Special Counsel Jack Smith was unconstitutional, making the prosecution of Donald Trump illegal. The ruling is being appealed and will likely end up before the Supreme Court.

“Releasing Smith’s report is obviously not in the public interest — particularly in light of President Trump’s commanding victory in the election and the sensitive nature of the ongoing transition process,” Trump attorneys Todd Blanche and John Lauro said in a letter to Garland.

Washington Post:

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon barred Smith and Attorney General Merrick Garland from “releasing, sharing, or transmitting” the long-awaited report or any drafts or conclusions from it while a federal appeals court in Atlanta weighs an emergency motion from two of the president-elect’s former co-defendants. The co-defendants said releasing the report would unfairly prejudice them. Their motion cited a letter from Trump’s attorneys which also argued that the release of Smith’s findings was not in the public interest and would interfere with his presidency and his presidential transition.

Earlier Tuesday, Smiths’ office told the court that Garland might not make the classified documents part of the report public. The report is two volumes. One volume details prosecutors’ findings in the classified documents case, and the other focuses on the investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Lawyers for Nauta and De Oliveira argued that “These Defendants will irreparably suffer harm as civilian casualties of the Government’s impermissible and contumacious utilization of political lawfare to include the release of the unauthorized Report."

Trump's attorneys argued in a letter to the judge that because Cannon declared the special counsel's office unconstitutional, Jack Smith shouldn't be allowed to write reports on anything

“The release of any confidential report prepared by this out-of-control private citizen unconstitutionally posing as a prosecutor would be nothing more than a lawless political stunt, designed to politically harm President Trump and justify the huge sums of taxpayer money Smith unconstitutionally spent on his failed and dismissed cases,” the letter reads.

The report will probably be released on Friday unless Attorney General Merrick Garland intends to delay publication for other reasons. There's certainly cause for that, considering the sensitive nature of some of the classified documents.

Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story misspelled Judge Aileen Cannon's name in the headline. We apologize to our readers for this error.