A Trump-appointed federal judge in Florida has ruled that the second volume of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s final report on Donald Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified records at Mar-a-Lago will not be released to the public. US District Judge Aileen Cannon, who previously threw out the criminal case Smith brought against Trump, issued the 15-page ruling on Monday, marking a significant win for Trump in his efforts to keep the findings sealed.
Smith had submitted his two-volume final report to then-Attorney General Merrick Garland before leaving his post in early 2025. The first volume, covering Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, was released before Trump returned to the White House. The second volume, dealing with the classified documents case, has remained under seal following a legal challenge from Trump and his co-defendants.
In her ruling, Cannon said it is not customary for a prosecutor whose case was dismissed to publicly release large amounts of material from that case, particularly where defendants maintained their innocence throughout. She also criticised Smith for writing the report at all, saying it violated her earlier orders ending his office’s work on the classified documents matter. She did however decline a request from two of Trump’s former co-defendants to have the report destroyed.
Transparency groups pushed back strongly on the decision. American Oversight called it part of a troubling pattern of rulings shielding the president from public scrutiny, with the group’s executive director pointing out that American taxpayers funded the investigation and have a right to know what was uncovered, particularly on matters of national security. Legal challenges from public transparency organisations are still ongoing through the appeals process.
