Washington – A federal judge in South Florida has blocked the Justice Department from turning over to lawmakers part of former special counsel Jack Smith's report related to his investigation of President Trump's handling of classified documents.
one in 14 page order On Tuesday, US District Judge Eileen Cannon granted Mr Trump's co-defendants' request to keep the report away from the heads of the House and Senate Judiciary committees. Mr Trump aide Walt Nauta and former Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos de Oliveira earlier this month asked Canon to halt its release.
“Never before has the Department of Justice, prior to the conclusion of criminal proceedings against a defendant – and in the absence of a proper litigation-specific reason for the case – sought to disclose a report prepared by a special counsel outside the Department “Containing concrete and, so far, massive case information,” she wrote on Tuesday.
Smith, who resigned as special counsel earlier this month, submitted a two-volume report on his investigation involving Mr. Trump to former Attorney General Merrick Garland. first sectionThe report, relating to their investigation of the President's alleged efforts to thwart the transfer of power after the 2020 election, was publicly released days before Mr Trump's inauguration.
But Garland said the second volume about the classified document case will not be available to the American people because of the ongoing proceedings involving Nauta and de Oliveira. Instead, the attorney general said the report would be available only to the top Republicans and Democrats on the House and Senate Judiciary committees, and only if they agreed not to share information about it.
Nauta and de Oliveira tried to protect the entire report in its entirety, arguing that its disclosure would reflect unfairly on potential future criminal proceedings against them. Cannon last week cleared the way for the Justice Department to release the first volume on the 2020 election case, but ordered a hearing on whether the second volume should be available to lawmakers.