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The report is the second volume of a report Jack Smith wrote after dropping the federal criminal cases he brought against Donald J. Trump because of his 2024 election victory.
- Feb. 24, 2025, 2:35 p.m. ET
A free speech institute asked a federal judge in Florida on Monday to make public the special counsel report about the classified documents case against President Trump, arguing that the public has a First Amendment right to see it.
The request, made to Judge Aileen M. Cannon of the Southern District of Florida, who oversaw that case and eventually dismissed it, was the latest effort seeking the release of the report by the former special counsel, Jack Smith.
In the waning days of the Biden administration, Judge Cannon intervened to block the Justice Department from showing the report to anyone outside the department. As part of that effort, she required the department to share a copy of the report with her.
The report is the second volume of a two-part report Mr. Smith wrote after dropping the federal criminal cases he brought against Mr. Trump because of his 2024 election victory. The Justice Department has long taken the position that sitting presidents are temporarily immune from prosecution.
The first volume, regarding the case Mr. Smith brought against Mr. Trump over his attempts to overturn his loss of the 2020 election, became public in January. But the second volume, about Mr. Trump’s retention of classified documents after leaving office, remains hidden.
Judge Cannon based her order to keep the report confidential on the idea that doing so would protect the rights of Mr. Trump’s two co-defendants, whose cases were not initially dropped, should they eventually be tried.
