US Judge permanently blocks report on Trump’s alleged hoarding of top-secret military files
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "US Judge permanently blocks report on Trump’s alleged hoarding of top-secret military files")
US President Donald Trump Photograph: (AFP)
The Judge reiterated her stance that Jack Smith acted "without lawful authority" during the investigation, making any final report produced by his team legally void for public distribution.
A federal judge on Monday (Feb 23) ordered the US Justice Department to permanently block the release of portions of former special counsel Jack Smith's report that details his investigation into President Trump's alleged mishandling of sensitive government documents and alleged obstruction of the federal probe.
US District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, granted requests from Trump and two of his former co-defendents Walt Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira, to issue an order permanently stopping the release of the second volume of Smit's report.
The court's decision bars Attorney General Pam Bondi and her successors from releasing or sharing the portion of the report. The Department of Justice (DOJ), under Bondi, has already moved from seeking the prosecution of Donald Trump to actively supporting the permanent sealing of the evidence against him.
Smith, along with his team, produced a two-volume report on an investigation into Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential elections after he lost to Joe Biden and allegedly retained classified documents related to US military and nuclear programs at his estate in Palm Beach, Florida, after leaving the White House following the end of his first term.
The Judge reiterated her stance that Jack Smith acted "without lawful authority" during the investigation, making any final report produced by his team legally void for public distribution.
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"Special Counsel Smith, acting without lawful authority, obtained an indictment in this action and initiated proceedings that resulted in a final order of dismissal of all charges. As a result, the former defendants in this case, like any other defendant in this situation, still enjoy the presumption of innocence held sacrosanct in our constitutional order," Cannon wrote in her decision. “For obvious reasons, the Court need not take actions in contravention of that protection absent a statutory or other lawful directive to do so.”
Connen further said that allowing release of the report would lead ot large amount of material related to the case becoming public, adding that the report contains "voluminous discovery" and grand jury materials that are protected by existing court orders.
