Judge Cannon Permanently Blocks Release of Jack Smith Report on Classified Docs

President Donald Trump gestures after speaking to soldiers and their families at Fort Bragg, N.C., Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon permanently blocked the Trump Justice Department on Monday from releasing the section of former special counsel Jack Smith’s report that details his probe into President Donald Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified information.

Cannon, a Trump appointee whose past rulings helped Trump to push the trial until after his reelection, wrote in her ruling, “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. 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.”

“For obvious reasons, the Court need not take actions in contravention of that protection absent a statutory or other lawful directive to do so,” Cannon concluded, siding with Trump and his former co-defendants in the case, Walt Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira, who asked for the report not to be released.

Attorney General Pam Bondi previously announced that the DOJ would not release the report over questions of whether Smith was legally appointed in the case.

Without Cannon’s ruling, the report would have been released by the DOJ on Tuesday.

Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home was searched by the FBI in the summer of 2022 after the National Archives had repeatedly pressed Trump to return missing items from his time in office that belonged to the archives.

The FBI raid found allegedly classified documents and other presidential materials in boxes throughout his property, including stored in public spaces like bathrooms. A grand jury indictment subsequently charged Trump with 40 felony counts related to the mishandling of classified materials.

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