A federal judge on Monday barred the Justice Department from sharing with members of Congress former special counsel Jack Smith’s final report on the classified documents case against Donald Trump.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, determined there was no urgent need for the Justice Department to share the report with the president and ranking members of the House and Senate judiciary committees while it is still an appeal involving Trump’s co-defendants in the case is pending. earring.
Then-U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said earlier this month that he would not make the report public until appeals involving Trump’s co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira were decided, but he planned to share it with committee heads for a private review “upon their request and agreement not to publicly disclose any information” about the report.
In his ruling, Cannon said there had been no such request and suggested that members of Congress could not be trusted not to publicly share the report’s contents.
“Given the great public interest in this criminal proceeding and the absence of enforceable limits on the proposed disclosure, there is certainly a reasonable probability that review by members of Congress as proposed will result in the public dissemination of all or part of the Volume II,” he wrote.
The first part of Smith’s report, detailing his investigation into Trump’s efforts to stay in power after the 2020 election, was released earlier this month and primarily contained information from public court documents about the case.
Cannon said the volume of the classified documents case is different. In addition to the presence of co-defendants (which Trump did not have in the election interference case), the report contains “detailed and voluminous” information outlining the case against Trump, much of which “has not been made public in documents.” judicial”. the judge wrote.
Cannon also criticized the Justice Department’s argument that Garland had “limited time” and wanted to “comply with the historical practice of all special counsels” in delivering the final report to Congress.
“These statements do not reflect well on the Department,” he wrote. “There is no ‘historical practice’ of providing special counsel reports to Congress, even on a limited basis, pending the conclusion of criminal proceedings. In fact, there has not been a single instance of this happening so far.” “.
The judge also pointed to the Justice Department’s position that members of Congress need to see the report now for “possible legislative reforms related to the use of special counsel,” writing: “There is no indication of pending legislative activity that could be aided by the proposed release of Volume II to specified members of Congress.”
“Prosecutors play a special role in our criminal justice system and are trusted and expected to do justice,” the judge concluded. “The Department of Justice’s position on Defendants’ Emergency Motion for Volume II has not been faithful to that obligation.”
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump, Nauta and De Oliveira had been charged with allegedly participating in a scheme to help Trump retain highly classified documents that improperly remained in his possession after he left the White House in 2021 and with obstructing the subsequent investigation.
Cannon dismissed the criminal case last year, calling Smith’s appointment illegal. Prosecutors appealed the ruling but withdrew their appeal from Trump’s case after his election victory in November, citing a Justice Department legal memo that maintains the department cannot prosecute a sitting president.
Garland and Smith resigned earlier this month.
