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  "path": "/post/206904/donald-trump-judge-aileen-cannon-jack-smith",
  "publishedAt": "2026-02-23T14:58:54.000Z",
  "site": "https://newrepublic.com",
  "tags": [
    "Breaking News",
    "Politics",
    "Republican Party",
    "Donald Trump",
    "judge",
    "courts",
    "Aileen Cannon",
    "Election 2020",
    "Jack Smith",
    "Election Deniers",
    "classified material",
    "Mar-a-Lago",
    "15-page order",
    "accused of helping Trump",
    "unprecedented decision",
    "criticized",
    "celebrated",
    "repeatedly insisted",
    "had both filed"
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  "textContent": "She’s baaaaack: Judge Aileen Cannon just barred the Department of Justice from releasing the second volume of former special counsel Jack Smith’s report on Donald Trump.\n\nIn a 15-page order Monday, Cannon approved two motions to block the public release of Volume II of Smith’s report, writing that its release would “plainly offend” her original dismissal order and the “substantial discovery” held under a protective order.\n\nReleasing the report “would cause irreparable damage to former defendants from disclosure of non-public discovery material implicating still-contested grand jury and privilege concerns; and it would contravene basic notions of fairness and justice in the process, where no adjudication of guilt has been reached following initiation of criminal charges,” she wrote.\n\nOne motion to block the release of Volume II came from Trump, and the other came from Waltine Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, two former Mar-a-Lago employees who were accused of helping Trump hide boxes of classified documents at his Florida estate from federal investigators and trying to delete security footage that showed them moving boxes. Trump also asked Nauta to lie on his behalf to the FBI and promised him a pardon if he faced any charges.\n\nIn July 2024, Cannon made the unprecedented decision to toss out the felony classified documents case against Trump by ruling Smith’s appointment was unconstitutional. Her move has been criticized by legal scholars but repeatedly celebrated by Trump.\n\nCannon accused Smith of violating her order to dismiss the case by compiling a final report ahead of Trump’s inauguration in order to “circumvent” her ruling. “The Court need not countenance this brazen stratagem or effectively perpetuate the Special Counsel’s breach of this Court’s own order,” she wrote.\n\nCannon also repeatedly insisted that the motions to bury Volume II were unopposed, but in fact the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and American Oversight to Intervene had both filed for the report to be available to FOIA requests. Cannon had denied the request.\n\n_This story has been updated._",
  "title": "Trump’s Favorite Judge Covers Up Jack Smith’s Classified Docs Report"
}