In a brief order today, the federal judge in Florida temporarily barred the Justice Department from releasing Special Counsel Jack Smith's final report of his investigation into the president-elect. The order, which came after a request from Trump's co-defendants, not only prevents the public release of the report but also bans DOJ from sharing it with other areas of the government. (Trump's lawyers separately asked Attorney General Merrick Garland to block the report's release.) Cannon, a Trump appointee, was randomly assigned one of Smith's cases in June 2023'the one involving Trump's hoarding of highly classified materials at Mar-a-Lago. Her handling of it puzzled and appalled many observers, some of whom accused her of 'sabotaging' the case. In July, she threw the case out, concluding that Smith's appointment altogether was unconstitutional. DOJ appealed her ruling, but Smith moved to dismiss the matter after Trump won the presidential election. The dismissal was a bow to...
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