A United States District Court judge harshly criticized special counsel Jack Smith on Tuesday, alleging that his team attempted to jeopardize a fair trial for former President Trump’s previous co-defendants by unveiling a concluding report regarding the classified documents investigation.
In a sharply worded, 14-page order bearing her signature, Judge Aileen Cannon of the Southern District of Florida reproached Smith for planning to reveal information from his inquiry into the confidential records matter to congressional officials.
“Never before has the Department of Justice, prior to the conclusion of criminal proceedings against a defendant — and absent a litigation-specific reason as appropriate in the case itself — sought to disclose outside the Department a report prepared by a Special Counsel containing substantive and voluminous case information. Until now,” Cannon wrote.
“Meanwhile, on the other side of the balance, there are two individuals in this action, each with constitutional rights to a fair trial, who remain subject to a live criminal appeal of this Court’s Order Dismissing the Superseding Indictment,” she said, referring to Trump co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira.
{Matzav.com}