The Florida federal judge overseeing Donald Trump’s classified documents case is blocking Attorney General Merrick Garland from releasing a report prepared by the prosecutor who led the classified documents criminal cases against the president-elect.
A stunning order from District Judge Aileen Cannon on Monday arrived hours after the former president and his co-defendants urged the courts to prevent special counsel Jack Smith from publishing a report that is expected to detail his investigations, which drew to a close following his presidential election victory.
Cannon — who was appointed to the bench by Trump in 2020 — is effectively ordering the Department of Justice to reject guidelines that put decisions about special counsel reports in the hands of the attorney general.
It’s unclear whether Cannon even has the authority to make such an extraordinary move in a case that is no longer in her court. It’s also unclear whether Cannon can block the release of the entire report, including Smith’s investigation into Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, which was prosecuted in a completely different court.
The judge has faced intense scrutiny and criticism for her handling of the Mar-a-Lago case, culminating in her bombshell decision to dismiss the charges, arguing that Smith’s appointment violates the Constitution and “usurps” the role of Congress in funding that office.
Her order on Monday temporarily prohibits Garland, Smith and any other Justice Department officers from “releasing, sharing, or transmitting” any drafts of the report for at least three days after an appeals court decision on the report’s release.
The decision scrambles final steps from federal prosecutors to publicly share their findings from investigations into Trump’s withholding of classified documents and his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Trump learned about Cannon’s ruling during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago.
He called Cannon a “very strong and a very brilliant judge.”
“So he wanted to do a report, just before I take office, probably, so he’ll do like a 500-page report, and it will be a fake report just like the investigation was a fake investigation,” he said of Smith’s prosecution. “They’re not allowed to issue the report? That’s the way it should be. ... Why should he be allowed to write a fake report?”
On Monday, Trump’s lawyers filed a motion demanding the courts to stop Garland and Smith from releasing the report and to fire Smith immediately.
Trump’s legal team also called Smith an “out-of-control private citizen unconstitutionally posing as a prosecutor” aiming to harm Trump politically.
“Accordingly, because Smith has proposed an unlawful course of action, you must countermand his plan and remove him promptly,” Trump’s lawyers Todd Blanche and John Lauro wrote.
“If Smith is not removed, then the handling of his report should be deferred to President Trump’s incoming attorney general, consistent with the expressed will of the People,” they added.
Smith had planned to resign sometime before Trump’s January 20 inauguration. Trump wanted to fire him “within two seconds” of his return to office.
His anticipated final report follows a post-election decision to effectively end his prosecution of Trump’s two federal cases altogether after a years-long attempt to prosecute Trump for alleged crimes spelled out in hundreds of pages of evidence.
Trump’s attorneys said they had briefly reviewed a draft of the report over the weekend in Smith’s office in Washington, D.C.
They wrote that the report described Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election as an “unprecedented criminal effort,” and that Trump — “the head of the criminal conspiracies” — harbored a “criminal design.”
