A federal judge on Monday barred the public release of a report by former special counsel Jack Smith detailing US President Donald Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents.
US District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed by Trump, had dismissed the classified documents case in July 2024, ruling that Smith’s appointment as special counsel was unlawful.
Although the Justice Department appealed the decision, it dropped the case after Trump won the November 2024 presidential election.
Trump had also faced accusations of attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden. That case was likewise abandoned by Smith in accordance with long-standing Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
In her ruling on Monday, Cannon granted a motion filed by Trump and two co-defendants seeking to prevent the release of Smith’s investigative report on the classified documents case.
She said publishing evidence gathered during a prosecution that did not result in a conviction would be unfair.
“Disclosure of non-public discovery material… would contravene basic notions of fairness and justice,” Cannon wrote. “The former defendants in this case, like any other defendant in this situation, still enjoy the presumption of innocence.
“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,” she added.
Smith had accused Trump of retaining classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida after leaving the White House in January 2021 and obstructing efforts to recover them. Trump denied the allegations.
AFP
