U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon on Tuesday blocked the release of a special counsel’s final report into Trump, pending a decision by an appeals court.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon on Tuesday blocked the release of a special counsel’s final report into President-elect Donald Trump, pending a decision by an appeals court.
The order bars special counsel Jack Smith and the Department of Justice (DOJ) from releasing the report until the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals reviews a motion submitted by Trump’s co-defendants.
“Pending resolution of the Emergency Motion filed in the Eleventh Circuit … Attorney General Garland, the Department of Justice, Special Counsel Smith, all of their officers, agents, and employees, and all persons acting in active concert or participation with such individuals are temporarily enjoined” from releasing or transmitting the final report, Cannon’s order stated.
This week, Trump co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira asked Cannon to prevent the release of Smith’s report in the classified documents case, which accused Trump of illegally retaining sensitive materials after leaving office.
Smith also accused Nauta and De Oliveira of obstruction-related crimes. Trump and the two men have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The two co-defendants noted in court papers that Smith’s appeal of Cannon’s dismissal of charges against the men is still pending and that the disclosure of pejorative information about them will be prejudicial.
The release of Smith’s report, the pair argued to Cannon in court filings this week, “would directly infringe on Nauta’s and De Oliveira’s Fifth Amendment due process rights, taking on the status of a public form of an invalid new indictment, replete with unfairly prejudicial assertions of alleged offenses going well beyond any assertions in the indictment and other public filings.”
According to federal law, special counsels are required to provide the attorney general with a confidential report “explaining the prosecution or declination decisions reached by the Special Counsel.”
Separately, Trump’s attorneys told Attorney General Merrick Garland in a letter that after they reviewed Smith’s draft final report, they believe that it would violate “fundamental norms regarding the presumption of innocence, including with respect to third parties unnecessarily impugned by Smith’s false claims.”
