Judge blocks release of Trump documents case report by special counsel Jack Smith

A Florida federal judge appointed by President Donald Trump blocked the public release of a final report by former special counsel Jack Smith on his prosecution of Trump for retaining classified documents after leaving the White House at his Mar-a-Lago club and for blocking efforts to retrieve them. Judge Aileen Cannon in her Monday ruling cited her July 2024 ruling that Smith was not legally appointed as special counsel, which led to her dismissing the criminal case against Trump, as the key reason she said that Volume II of his final report on the case should not be made public. Smith had obtained a grand jury indictment of Trump on charges related to those documents in June 2023, more than two years after Trump ended his first term in the White House. Cannon in Monday's order blasted Smith for his "brazen stratagem" of compiling evidence and other material obtained during his investigation and "compiling it into a final report" to the attorney general after she ruled his appointment as special counsel violated the appointments clause of the U.S. Constitution. Smith had taken those actions while appealing the judge's dismissal of the criminal case against Trump. That appeal was dropped by the Department of Justice after Trump won the 2024 presidential election. Read more CNBC politics coverage Democrats seek to force refunds after Supreme Court blocks Trump tariffs Trump demands Netflix fire Susan Rice as DOJ probes Warner deal Armed man killed by authorities trying to enter Trump Mar-a-Lago club Cannon, in her ruling Monday, said releasing Smith's report "would cause irreparable damage to former defendants from disclosure of non-public" material that was exchanged between Smith's prosecution team and defense lawyers, which involved "still-contested grand jury and privilege concerns." "And it would contravene basic notions of fairness and justice in the process, where no adjudication of guilt has been reached following initiation of criminal charges," Cannon wrote...