The federal judge in Florida who oversaw President-elect Donald Trump’s classified documents case indicated she is leaning toward blocking Attorney General Merrick Garland from releasing former special counsel Jack Smith’s report on the prosecution.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon suggested it would be premature to allow congressional members to see the report while the Department of Justice appeals the case against Trump's former co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira, ABC News reported Friday.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., urged Garland in a letter Wednesday that “it is essential to the rule of law” to make the report publicly available. Nauta, de Oliveira and Trump have sought to block the release of Smith's report amid the ongoing proceedings against Nauta and de Oliveira.
Cannon, who was appointed by Trump, pressed DOJ attorney Elizabeth Shapiro to explain why Garland is intent on sharing the report now, with the appeal still ongoing.
"Why is there such urgency?" she said, according to The Palm Beach Post. "At the end of the day, what's the upside to doing this now?"
Shapiro said because Garland’s time in office is limited. Cannon repeated the question several times throughout the hearing, but Shapiro offered little else, alluding only to the commitments Garland made and his desire to see them through.
Cannon was focused on the lack of mechanism the court has to enforce the lawmakers to keep quiet about what they learned from the report, according to CNN. If a member of Congress went to the House floor to describe what they read, that conduct would be protected by the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause.
Nauta, an aide to Trump, and de Oliveira, a former property manager at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, are accused of obstructing the investigation into Trump's handling of government documents, some deemed classified, after he left office in 2021. Both have pleaded not guilty.
Cannon dismissed the case last year after ruling the Department of Justice violated the Constitution by appointing Smith, a private citizen, as special counsel. Smith decided to appeal as it relates to Trump’s former co-defendants. Garland had said he would not publicly release Smith's report because the proceedings involving Nauta and de Oliveira were ongoing.
On Tuesday, Garland released Smith's report on the prosecution of Trump regarding allegations of trying to subvert the results of the 2020 election. Smith ended both prosecutions, of which Trump entered not guilty pleas and vehemently denied wrongdoing, following Trump’s victory in November. DOJ guidelines prohibit the prosecution of a sitting president. Smith resigned from the DOJ on Jan. 10.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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