U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Florida Aileen Cannon on Tuesday blocked the release of a special counsel’s final report into President-elect Donald Trump, pending a decision by an appeals court.
The order bars special counsel Jack Smith and the Department of Justice (DOJ) from releasing the report until the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals reviews a motion submitted by Trump’s co-defendants.
According to Judge Cannon’s order:
"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, see Fed. R. Civ. P. 65(d)(2), 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."
Trump co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira asked Cannon to prevent the release of Smith’s report in the classified documents case, which accused Trump of illegally retaining sensitive materials after leaving office.
The release of Smith’s report, the pair argued to Cannon in court filings this week, “would directly infringe on Nauta’s and De Oliveira’s Fifth Amendment due process rights, taking on the status of a public form of an invalid new indictment, replete with unfairly prejudicial assertions of alleged offenses going well beyond any assertions in the indictment and other public filings,” wrote Jack Phillips in an article for The Epoch Times.
In a separate matter, President-elect Trump’s attorneys told Attorney General Merrick Garland in a letter that after they reviewed Smith’s draft final report, they believe that it would violate “fundamental norms regarding the presumption of innocence, including with respect to third parties unnecessarily impugned by Smith’s false claims.”
“Because Smith has proposed an unlawful course of action, you must countermand his plan and remove him promptly,” Trump’s lawyers said in their letter, adding that “if Smith is not removed, then the handling of his report should be deferred to President Trump’s incoming attorney general.”
And, in a court motion on Monday, attorneys for the defendants asserted that because Nauta and De Oliveira still face the threat of criminal prosecution, the final report could prejudice those proceedings.
“As the Government knows, the continued operation of the protective order in this case will make the one-sided impermissible Final Report even more unfairly prejudicial; Defendants are strictly precluded from refuting the Report,” they wrote, according to reporting by Mr. Phillips.
Perhaps most importantly, Attorney General Merrick Garland is now blocked from releasing, sharing, or transmitting” Jack Smith’s 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 means any leaks will be in contempt of the Judge’s order and subject to sanctions or prosecution.
Judge Aileen Cannon
Lawfare
Merrick Garland
Jack Smith
Biden Justice department
Joe Biden administration
Special Counsel's Report
Circuit Court Review
Injunction
Walt Nauta
Carlos De Oliveira
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