A federal judge has permanently blocked the release of a prosecutor’s report detailing a criminal case that accused President Donald Trump of unlawfully retaining classified documents after his first term in office.
The decision by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon prevents the Justice Department from making public a report prepared by former Special Counsel Jack Smith concerning the handling of sensitive files found at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.
Cannon, who was appointed by Trump in 2020, dismissed the charges in 2024 and ruled on Monday that releasing the report would constitute a “manifest injustice” and cause “irreparable damage.”
In her 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.”
She found that Smith had not been lawfully appointed and was “acting without lawful authority” when he brought charges against Trump.
Trump had been charged in 2023 with illegally retaining classified national defense information, including materials related to the American nuclear program, and with obstructing government efforts to retrieve them.
Dozens of classified documents were discovered at Mar-a-Lago in 2021, including in a shower and storage room, after Trump left the White House.
Trump and his co-defendants, personal aide Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago manager Carlos de Oliveira, pleaded not guilty and described the case as politically motivated.
The Justice Department under former President Joe Biden initially sought to revive the case after Cannon’s dismissal but dropped the effort following Trump’s victory in the 2024 election.
Smith later requested dismissal, citing a policy barring prosecution of a sitting president.
Charges against Nauta and de Oliveira were also dropped after Trump returned to office.
The Justice Department under Trump supported keeping the report confidential, while American Oversight, a government accountability group, criticized the ruling as limiting public scrutiny.
Special counsels are required to submit reports to the attorney general outlining their conclusions.
Although the Justice Department released a separate volume of Smith’s findings related to another dismissed case, the documents case report will remain sealed under Cannon’s order.