Judge blocks release of special counsel Jack Smith's report on Trump classified documents case
Source: AP
Updated 9:54 AM EST, February 23, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) A federal judge on Monday permanently barred the release of a report by special counsel Jack Smith on his investigation into President Donald Trumps hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, granted a request from the Republican president to keep under wraps the report on a criminal investigation once seen as posing significant legal peril to Trump.
Smith and his team produced a two-volume report on investigations into Trumps efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election after he lost to Joe Biden and his retention of classified documents at his estate in Palm Beach, Florida, after he left the White House following his first term.
Both investigations produced indictments that were abandoned by Smiths team after Trumps November 2024 election win in light of longstanding Justice Department legal opinions that say sitting presidents cannot face federal prosecution.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/trump-classified-documents-jack-smith-3a86d9c12f18b4dfe648e539925d72a2
Just breaking.
ananda
(34,672 posts)Sheesh
ABC123Easy
(184 posts)Ocelot II
(129,964 posts)lamp_shade
(15,433 posts)C_U_L8R
(49,200 posts)How soon will her complicity be overturned?
bluestarone
(21,825 posts)It's ALL on her!!
gab13by13
(31,784 posts)Lovie777
(22,454 posts)time for her to resign.
rampartd
(4,425 posts)just as soon as one of trump's "foreign influenced justices" resigns or is killed off.
imaginary girl
(1,017 posts)Is there a way to appeal to a larger group or different individual?
Ocelot II
(129,964 posts)Hugin
(37,710 posts)That seems to be how things are done lately.
marble falls
(71,453 posts)... time to appeal to the next level.
ScratchCat
(2,719 posts)With SMITH?
No, with DONALD FUCKING TRUMP!!
Every judge in her district told he she legally had to decline the case because he appointed her, and she gave them the finger. Every other judge in her district knows she is a corrupt hack.
marble falls
(71,453 posts)walkingman
(10,597 posts)Katinfl
(693 posts)Botany
(76,890 posts)Her #1 job from her bosses called Federalist Society is to protect Trump.
https://thiswillhold.substack.com/p/she-won-part-ii-seven-judges-direct
Your Seat Awaits, Judge Cannon
Just seven days after Trump lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden, the Senate rammed through Judge Aileen Cannona Federalist Society loyalistto the federal bench, again via the nuclear option. The seat? It would later oversee Trumps classified documents case.
Think about that. Before he even walked out of the White House with stolen materials and a failed insurrection attempt, Donald Trump had already secured the judge who would protect him. He wasn't just breaking the lawhe was fortifying his legal escape route in advance, with an assist from Senate Republicans.
By mid-2022, Judge Cannon was the only active judge in Floridas Fort Pierce division. Trumps legal team took full advantage, filing his case in personin violation of standard protocolwhich all but guaranteed it would land on her desk. That week, Cannon was assigned 9 of 29 new casesover 30%, nearly triple the norm. Despite calls for recusal, she refused. She stayed. And she stalled.
eringer
(520 posts)Nothing is permanently blocked. That is nonsense. Time to appeal
The judges decision.
marble falls
(71,453 posts)City Lights
(25,590 posts)She is nothing but a partisan hack.
LetMyPeopleVote
(177,741 posts)The Trump appointee had previously dismissed the criminal case against Trump on the grounds that the special counsel was unlawfully appointed.
BREAKING: Judge Cannon blocks release of Jack Smithâs classified documents report
— MS NOW (@ms.now) 2026-02-23T15:04:19.584Z
READ MORE: www.ms.now/deadline-whi...
https://www.ms.now/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/judge-cannon-blocks-release-of-jack-smiths-classified-documents-report
Cannon had dismissed the case in 2024 when Trump was running for president. The Justice Department was appealing her order, but dropped the appeal when he won the election, due to the DOJs policy against prosecuting sitting presidents.
Explaining her reasoning on Monday, the Trump-appointed judge wrote, in part, that there is the matter of manifest injustice to the former defendants that would result from disclosure of Volume II. 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 rejected a defense request to order the reports destruction.
The 11th Circuit has reversed this idiot judge several times. I am looking forward to seeing this idiot reversed yet again
ScratchCat
(2,719 posts)She literally cites Trump's insistence that he is innocent as a reason to not release it.
This will be appealed and the DCA will overrule her. The entire basis of her ruling is that its not fair to Trump for this to be released and he should be considered innocent because she(Cannon) dismissed the case for him.
bluestarone
(21,825 posts)TSF promised her to choose her for a supreme court judge appointment.
GiqueCee
(3,733 posts)... must be impeached and disbarred. Her blatant corruption cannot go unchallenged.
And, though I've said it a thousand times, politicians should never, EVER have anything to do with the selection of judges, or especially SCOTUS Justices. This country has already been corrupted enough by conservative influences. Letting a bag of rancid excrement like Trump hand-pick his own personal judges is intolerable. ALL judges and justices should be required to abjure any political affiliation whatsoever if they are to be considered "impartial".
Sweet Jesus on a pogo stick, my hatred of Der Republican Party burns hotter than the surface of the Sun. They actually welcome crooked slime like Trump and his malignant minions.
bluestarone
(21,825 posts)Then this SC will sit on this until end of TSF's term.
AverageOldGuy
(3,637 posts)Will she replace Alito after he resigns in a couple of months?
TheRickles
(3,272 posts)Otherwise, the legal process will take forever.
Ray Bruns
(6,169 posts)Playingmantis
(585 posts)And they try to tell us this is the most transparent administration in history! BULLSHIT!!
riversedge
(80,274 posts)Damn!!
bluestarone
(21,825 posts)I say WHOEVER KNOWS what this report is about (fine details) they need to RELEASE it no matter what this scumbag says. Jesus Christ our country is gonna disintegrate is things don't stop this BULLSHIT!! On the HOUSE FLOOR!!
JoseBalow
(9,402 posts)oldmanlynn
(807 posts)Katinfl
(693 posts)republianmushroom
(22,176 posts)is total bull shit. You are if you can buy a Federal judge, and there are some for sale.