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Left: FILE — Former President Donald Trump speaks at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., June 13, 2023 (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File). Right: Special counsel Jack Smith speaks about an indictment of former President Donald Trump, Aug. 1, 2023 (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin). Inset: Aileen M. Cannon speaks remotely during a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight nomination hearing to be U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on July 29, 2020, in Washington (U.S. Senate).
The federal judge in Florida overseeing the Mar-a-Lago confidential documents case has blocked the public release of an expected report from special counsel Jack Smith regarding his criminal prosecutions of Donald Trump.
In an order filed Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon responded to an emergency request from lawyers for Trump, as well as codefendants Waltine Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, seeking an order barring the Justice Department from sharing the report.
Per the order (citations omitted):
Pending resolution of the Emergency Motion filed in the Eleventh Circuit and/or any further direction from the Eleventh Circuit, Attorney General Garland, the Department of Justice, Special Counsel Smith, all of their officers, agents, and employees, and all persons acting in active concert or participation with such individuals, are TEMPORARILY ENJOINED from (a) releasing, sharing, or transmitting the Final Report or any drafts of such Report outside the Department of Justice, or (b) otherwise releasing, distributing, conveying, or sharing with anyone outside the Department of Justice any information or conclusions in the Final Report or in drafts thereof. This Order remains in effect until three days after resolution by the Eleventh Circuit of the Emergency Motion, unless the Eleventh Circuit orders otherwise.
The judge noted that the defendants had filed a “nearly identical emergency motion” before the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in connection with Smith’s appeal of Cannon’s previous ruling dismissing the case and deeming Smith’s appointment unlawful.
In the ruling, Cannon said she issued the order to “preserve the status quo as this Court awaits resolution by the Eleventh Circuit of the similar Emergency Motion, to prevent irreparable harm arising from the circumstances as described in the current record in this emergency posture, and to permit an orderly and deliberative sequence of events.”
Lawyers for the defendants had asked Cannon to order Smith to stop work on the report and to share it with nobody, including colleagues within the Department of Justice.
“[T]he Defendants request that this Court enter an Order to preclude Smith from taking any action related to the Final Report pending resolution of this emergency motion — including but not limited to transmitting it; sharing it with other members of the team; editing it; or accessing the protected materials and evidence upon which it is based,” the motion says.
Cannon was clear that her order was not her final determination on whether the report could ultimately be released.
“This Order shall not be construed as a final ruling on the merits of the Emergency Motion, which remains pending before this Court subject to any directives from the Eleventh Circuit,” the ruling ends.