NEW YORK, Feb. 24– A U.S. federal judge on Monday blocked the release of a report by former Special Counsel Jack Smith about President Donald Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents following his first term.
Florida-based U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon said the release of the report would present a “manifest injustice” to the president and his two co-defendants, because it would detail substantial allegations of criminal wrongdoing in a case that never reached a jury.
In a ruling, Cannon wrote that disclosure of Smith’s report “would contravene basic notions of fairness and justice in the process, where no adjudication of guilt has been reached following initiation of criminal charges.”
Smith charged Trump in 2023 with 40 counts of illegally retaining classified U.S. national defense information at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida and obstructing government efforts to retrieve the materials.
Trump denied all the allegations. Cannon, appointed to the bench by Trump in 2020, dismissed all the charges in 2024, ruling that Smith was unlawfully appointed by the Justice Department during former President Joe Biden’s administration. (Namibia Daily News/Xinhua)
