In a courtroom drama this Friday, a federal judge seemed likely to block Attorney General Merrick Garland from releasing special counsel Jack Smith’s final report on Donald Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who dismissed the case last year based on the constitutionality of Smith’s appointment, is now deciding whether to stop Garland from letting certain members of Congress see the report. This hearing marked the final chapter of a case that many legal experts once saw as one of the most serious legal threats to Trump.
Judge Cannon raised concerns, saying it might be “premature” to share the report with Congress while the Justice Department is still appealing the case against Trump’s former co-defendants. She pointed out that if the report were leaked, there’s not much the court could do to control it.
Defense attorneys for Trump’s former aides, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, argued that if Congress got to see the report, it would likely leak, hurting their clients’ chance of a fair trial. Nauta’s attorney, Stanley Woodward, expressed doubts that Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, would keep the details confidential.
While the DOJ’s lawyer, Elizabeth Shapiro, argued that these concerns were based on “speculation,” Judge Cannon seemed to lean toward the defense’s argument, calling the release of the report “premature.”
Shapiro did emphasize that historically, the Attorney General has had the right to release such reports. But Judge Cannon raised a big question, asking if the DOJ was even ruling out the possibility of future charges against Trump, which added a layer of uncertainty to the situation.
Trump’s legal team, including John Lauro, also joined the call to block the report’s release, calling it unprecedented and politically charged. Lauro claimed that the DOJ was trying to create a historic moment by releasing the report.
Meanwhile, Garland recently made the first part of Smith’s report public, covering Trump’s alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election. However, the second part—about the classified documents—is still on hold due to the ongoing appeal.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to multiple charges related to mishandling classified documents, including accusations that he tried to delete surveillance footage at Mar-a-Lago.
As the case continues, the legal world is watching closely. Will the report be kept under wraps, or will it be released to Congress? For now, that decision remains up in the air.
