DOJ Asks Judge to Block Release of Report on Trump’s Classified Documents Investigation

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) told a federal court on Jan. 23 that it should bar the release of former special counsel Jack Smith’s report on the classified documents investigation into President Donald Trump. Florida-based federal Judge Aileen Cannon previously issued an injunction blocking the report’s release, but her order expires next month. The DOJ said in a court filing that the report should not be made public because releasing it would prejudice the three defendants in the case, including Trump, and because Smith’s tenure as special counsel was “marked by illegality and impropriety.” The new filing came in the now-dismissed criminal prosecution of Trump, his former valet Waltine Nauta, and former Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos de Oliveira, that began during the Biden administration in connection with classified documents allegedly discovered at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Palm Beach, Florida, residence....