US judge temporarily blocks release of Trump investigations report

Special Counsel Jack Smith’s release of a report on his investigation into President-elect Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents has been temporarily halted by a US judge.

The US Department of Justice was instructed on Monday to hold off on releasing the report until a federal appeals court hears a request from his two former co-defendants. This is in accordance with Judge Cannon’s ruling in the now-dismissed case against Trump.

Those co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, remain the subject of a continuing appeal. They contend that the release of the report might prejudice their right to a fair hearing.

In June 2023, prosecutors claimed that after leaving public office, Trump and Nauta, his aide, defied a federal subpoena to turn over records containing defense intelligence and other sensitive documents.

The two were also accused of trying to conceal the evidence that they had done so, according to the prosecution.

De Oliveira, a maintenance worker at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, was charged in August 2023 in an updated indictment, where he was implicated in an alleged conspiracy to delete surveillance footage.

Trump is the first US president to face criminal charges. He has since been found guilty in a separate criminal case in New York for falsifying business documents.

The classified documents case, meanwhile, has hit several hurdles since it was first announced.

Judge Cannon, a Trump appointee, tossed the case last July, arguing in her decision that the position of “special counsel” had not been congressionally approved.

That went against years of legal precedent: In situations where there might otherwise be a conflict of interest, special counsels have been given the all-clear.

In order to handle inquiries regarding Trump, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith in 2022 as a member of President Joe Biden’s administration.

Smith has also looked into Trump’s alleged attempts to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election in addition to the classified documents case. In August of that year, a separate criminal indictment was issued.

Both federal cases were dropped last November, after Trump won a second term in office. Smith also announced his intention to resign before Trump’s inauguration, at which point the Republican leader will control the Justice Department.

According to Smith in a legal submission at the time, “The Department of Justice has long held that the United States Constitution forbids the federal indictment and subsequent criminal prosecution of a sitting President.”

According to Smith, Smith’s report reportedly contains two volumes, one on the election interference case and the other on the classified documents case. But a spokesperson for Smith’s office declined to comment on Judge Cannon’s order on Monday, barring its release.

According to Justice Department rules, Smith must turn in a final report to Garland, who has previously pledged to make all special counsel reports public.

Trump applauded Judge Cannon’s decision during a question-and-answer segment at a news conference at Mar-a-Lago.

He has long criticized the prosecutions as a plot to prevent him from winning back the election. On Monday, he repeatedly called Smith a “disgrace”.

“He wanted to do a report just before I take office probably, so he’ll do like a 500-page report, and it’ll be a fake report, just like the investigation was a fake investigation”, Trump told reporters, upon learning the news.

Source: Aljazeera