A federal judge took a step Monday toward the public release of former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s final report on President Trump’s handling of classified documents in 2021, but emphasized that legal challenges could block it entirely.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who had blocked the report’s release for nearly a year, set a tentative release date of Feb. 24 while noting that Trump or his former associates, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, could challenge the disclosure and potentially prevent it from being made public.
Shortly before Trump’s inauguration, Cannon rejected DOJ efforts to release the classified report. Trump has argued that Cannon’s ruling should permanently seal Smith’s findings. Smith testified to Congress last week but remains barred from revealing the full scope of his work due to grand jury secrecy rules.
Cannon previously dismissed the case against Trump, ruling Smith was unconstitutionally appointed as special counsel. The Justice Department appealed, but the appeal was dropped after Trump returned to office, and prosecutors later dismissed the cases against Trump, Nauta, and De Oliveira.
