Judge blocks release of special counsel Smith's report on Trump classified documents case

A federal judge blocked former special counsel Jack Smith’s attempt to release a damning anti-Trump report to Congress, ruling Monday that because Mr. Smith was never properly appointed to the job, his attempts to complete the document were done outside of the law.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee to the court in Florida, also ruled that the report contains material that would break the attorney-client privilege if released.

Given that, she said, releasing the information would unfairly taint Mr. Trump who, because he was never brought to trial or convicted, maintains the presumption of innocence.

She issued an order prohibiting the release outside of the Justice Department.

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“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,” she wrote.

Her ruling was brutal to Mr. Smith, the controversial special counsel appointed by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland to pursue criminal cases against Mr. Trump in the period between his presidencies.

Mr. Smith won an indictment in Washington accusing the president of attempting to subvert the 2020 election results, and another before Judge Cannon in Florida accusing him of mishandling classified documents.

Mr. Smith was appointed to the special counsel’s office even though, at the time, he was serving overseas as a prosecutor at The Hague. He has since said he can’t even remember who swore him in as special prosecutor, though he insists he was actually sworn in.

He had never been in a Senate-confirmed position, and his opponents argued that meant he could not be appointed a special prosecutor.

Judge Cannon agreed and ruled him improperly serving. That decision, she said Monday, taints everything he did — including his rush to complete the anti-Trump report in the days before Mr. Trump’s second inauguration.

She called that a “brazen stratagem” to breach her orders.

“Special Counsel Smith and his team went ahead for months, undeterred, preparing Volume II using discovery collected in connection with this proceeding and expending government funds in the process,” she wrote.

Mr. Trump had asked Judge Cannon to keep the report secret.

Testifying to Congress last month, Mr. Smith defended his behavior as special counsel and renewed his claims that the president is a criminal who escaped conviction only because of the 2024 election.

“I stand by my decisions as special counsel, including the decision to bring charges against President Trump,” Mr. Smith said. “Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in criminal activity.”

He largely stuck to the facts surrounding the 2020 election case, saying Judge Cannon’s gag order prevented him from saying much about the classified documents case.

Democrats have been desperate to get a look at Mr. Smith’s still-secret report, using last month’s hearing to prod Mr. Smith and the committee’s Republicans to try to force its release.

“We don’t know what’s in it, but it must be pretty devastating because Donald Trump is desperate to keep Mr. Smith of any other DOJ official, for all time, from ever releasing it to Congress and the America people,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.

Mr. Smith was not involved in the arguments before Judge Cannon over his report’s release. That defense was handled by the Justice Department, which didn’t oppose Mr. Trump’s request to block the release.

American Oversight, a left-leaning watchdog, called Judge Cannon’s ruling part of a “troubling pattern of decisions that shield the president from public scrutiny and place secrecy above the public’s right to know.”

“This sweeping order once again gives the president exactly what he wanted — continued concealment of the factual record underlying the historic investigation into his misconduct,” said Chioma Chukwu, executive director of American Oversight.

• Stephen Dinan can be reached at [email protected].