Breaking News

US judge temporarily blocks release of report on Trump investigation | News about Donald Trump


A United States judge has temporarily blocked special counsel Jack Smith from releasing a report on his investigation into President-elect Donald Trump over his mishandling of classified documents.

On Monday, Judge Aileen Cannon, a federal judge, presided case now dismissed v. Trump, ordered the US Justice Department to withhold the report until a federal appeals court rules on a request by his two former co-defendants.

Those co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, remain the subject of an ongoing appeal. They argued that publication of the report could interfere with their right to a fair trial.

The criminal indictment in the classified documents case was announced in June 2023, when prosecutors alleged that Trump and Nauta, an aide, ignored federal subpoenas to turn over records containing defense intelligence and other sensitive materials after leaving public office. .

Prosecutors also accused the two of trying to conceal documents and cover up evidence that they did so.

De Oliveira, a maintenance worker at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, was charged in August 2023 in an updated indictment where he was involved in an alleged conspiracy to delete surveillance footage.

Trump is the first US president to ever face criminal charges. Since then, he has been convicted in a special criminal proceeding for falsifying business documents in New York.

The classified documents case, meanwhile, has run into several hurdles since it was first announced.

Judge Cannon, a Trump appointee, dismissed the case last July, arguing in her decision that the “special counsel” position was not authorized by Congress.

This was contrary to years of legal precedent: special counsels are usually authorized to provide independent legal advice in cases where there might otherwise be a conflict of interest.

Smith was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland, a member of President Joe Biden’s administration in 2022 serve in that role for Trump-related investigations.

In addition to the classified documents case, Smith also investigated Trump’s alleged attempts to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election. This resulted in a separate criminal indictment in August 2023.

Both federal cases were dropped out last November, after Trump won a second term. Smith also announced his intention to resign before Trump’s inauguration, when the Republican leader will control the Justice Department.

“The Justice Department has long held that the United States Constitution bars the federal indictment and subsequent prosecution of a sitting president,” Smith wrote in a legal filing at the time.

The Smith report is said to contain two volumes: one on the classified documents case and the other on the election meddling case. But a spokesman for Smith’s office declined to comment on Judge Cannon’s order Monday, barring its publication.

Justice Department regulations require Smith to submit a final report to Garland, who previously pledged to release all special counsel reports during his tenure.

Trump applauded Judge Cannon’s decision during a question-and-answer segment at a news conference at Mar-a-Lago.

He has long denounced the prosecutions as a politically motivated attempt to prevent his return to power. He repeatedly called Smith a “disgrace” on Monday.

“He wanted to do a report right before I take office probably, so he’s going to do a 500-page report, and it’s going to be a fake report, just like the investigation was a fake investigation,” Trump told reporters after learning the news.

“So if they’re not allowed to issue a report, so be it. Because he was shamefully dismissed from the case. Why should he be allowed to write a false report?”



Source link

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button