Jude Cannon on Monday approved the Justice Department’s release of one volume of special counsel Jack Smith’s final report on his investigations into President Trump.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon rejected a request from Trump aide Walt Nauta and former Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira to block the release of the volume focusing on Trump’s actions following the 2020 presidential election.
In her order, Cannon addressed the Justice Department’s request to release parts of Smith’s final report. Cannon cited the DOJ’s assertion that “nothing in Volume One of the Final Report… directly or indirectly refers, relies, or bears in any respect upon any evidence or argument relevant to any of the charges alleged against Defendants Nauta and De Oliveira in this case.”
Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira remain the sole defendants in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case after Cannon dismissed charges against Trump over the summer.
Regarding the second volume of the report, which pertains to the Mar-a-Lago case, Cannon noted it “presents contested factual and legal issues that must be resolved in an orderly, expedited basis, following full briefing and a hearing.” The DOJ has sought to make a “limited disclosure” of this volume to congressional leadership, citing the “public interest in keeping congressional leadership apprised of a significant matter within the Department while safeguarding defendants’ interests.”
Cannon scheduled a hearing on the matter for January 17 at 2 p.m. and barred the DOJ from releasing Volume II until after the hearing and a subsequent ruling. She emphasized that releasing the volume prematurely, even in a limited capacity, could “irreversibly and substantially impair the legal rights of Defendants in this criminal proceeding.”
“The Court is not willing to make that gamble on the basis of generalized interest by members of Congress, at least not without full briefing and a hearing on the subject,” Cannon wrote. “Nor has the United States presented any justification to support the suggestion that Volume II must be released to Congress now, as opposed to after a reasonable period for an expedited hearing and judicial deliberation on the subject.”
