A federal judge on Monday (February 23) permanently blocked the release of the second volume of former special counsel Jack Smith's report on President Donald Trump's handling of classified documents — a ruling that comes just one day before the report was scheduled to be made public.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, issued a 15-page order permanently barring the Justice Department from "releasing, distributing, conveying, or sharing with anyone outside the Department of Justice any information or conclusions in Volume II or in drafts thereof."

Cannon ruled that releasing the report would amount to a "manifest injustice" to President Trump and his two co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira, because the criminal case never resulted in a guilty verdict.

"Special Counsel Smith, acting without lawful authority, obtained an indictment in this action and initiated proceedings that resulted in a final order of dismissal of all charges," Cannon wrote in the ruling. "As a result, the former defendants in this case, like any other defendant in this situation, still enjoy the presumption of innocence held sacrosanct in our constitutional order."

Cannon also called Smith's decision to keep working on the report — even after she ruled in July 2024 that his appointment as special counsel was unconstitutional and dismissed the case — a "brazen stratagem." She wrote that Smith and his team "went ahead for months, undeterred, preparing [the report] using discovery collected in connection with this proceeding and expending government funds in the process."

The judge said the report's release could also expose information protected by attorney-client privilege and grand jury secrecy rules.

Cannon acknowledged that special counsels have historically released final reports at the end of their work, but said they have done so only after deciding not to bring charges at all, or after a defendant was found guilty through a plea or trial. "The Court strains to find a situation in which a former special counsel has released a report after initiating criminal charges that did not result in a finding of guilt," she wrote.

Smith was appointed by former Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2022 to investigate two separate matters: President Trump's alleged efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, and his retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, after leaving the White House in 2021. Both cases produced indictments, but charges in both were dropped after Trump won the 2024 presidential election, in keeping with the Justice Department's longstanding policy against prosecuting a sitting president.

The first volume of Smith's report — covering the election interference investigation — was released by the Justice Department in January 2025, just days before President Joe Biden left office.

Smith, who now works in private practice, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. He has previously defended his team's work, telling members of the House Judiciary Committee in December that he made decisions in the investigation "without regard to President Trump's political association, activities, beliefs or candidacy in the 2024 presidential election."

The Vinnie Penn Project