A federal judge slammed special counsel Jack Smith on Tuesday and accused his office of seeking to deny two former co-defendants of President Trump a fair trial by releasing a final report on the a moribund classified documents case against the commander-in-chief.
In a scathing 14-page order, South Florida US District Judge Aileen Cannon took Smith to task for seeking to disclose details of his lengthy probe to members of Congress — before either defendant heads to trial.
“Never before has the Department of Justice, prior to the conclusion of criminal proceedings against a defendant — and absent a litigation-specific reason as appropriate in the case itself— sought to disclose outside the Department a report prepared by a Special Counsel containing substantive and voluminous case information. Until now,” Cannon wrote.
“Meanwhile, on the other side of the balance, there are two individuals in this action, each with constitutional rights to a fair trial, who remain subject to a live criminal appeal of this Court’s Order Dismissing the Superseding Indictment,” she said, referring to Trump co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira.
Smith, who resigned from the Justice Department on Jan. 10, had already transmitted to then-Attorney General Merrick Garland a copy of the first volume of his report, which dealt with alleged illegal interference by the 45th and 47th president in the 2020 election.
Garland released that report to the public on Jan. 14, just six days before Trump returned to the White House.
In it, the special counsel claimed that “but for Mr. Trump’s election and imminent return to the presidency, the office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial.”
Smith had asked to share a copy of the report’s second volume with the top Republican and Democrat on the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, saying it could be used for “possible legislative reforms regarding the use of special counsels”
Lawyers for Nauta and De Oliveira objected to that move as well as any public release, claiming it could harm Trump’s transition efforts, violate DOJ policy on releasing information during an ongoing criminal proceeding and deny their clients a right to a fair trial.
In her ruling, Cannon sided with the defense, pointing out that the report had not been subpoenaed by any congressional committee or talked about as the foundation of future legislation.
“There is no ‘historical practice’ of providing Special Counsel reports to Congress, even on a limited basis, pending conclusion of criminal proceedings,” she noted. “In fact, there is not one instance of this happening until now.”
Cannon threw out the documents case against Trump in July 2024 after determining the special counsel had been unconstitutionally appointed by Garland.
Smith voluntarily withdrew an appeal of that ruling to the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit Court of Appeals after Trump won re-election Nov. 5.
The 11th Circuit is still weighing a request by Nauta and De Oliveira to dismiss Smith’s indictment, which the DOJ has shown no sign of withdrawing
The Trump valet and Mar-a-Lago employee were charged in a superseding indictment in July 2023 for allegedly conspiring with Trump to conceal sensitive intelligence files and other classified documents at the Palm Beach, Fla., resort.
Cannon’s order prevents the report from being released or shared by any DOJ official until 30 days after the 11th Circuit rules on the defendants’ appeal.
