Feb. 23 (UPI) -- A federal judge in Florida on Monday blocked the public release of former special counsel Jack Smith's report on his investigation into classified documents held at President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.
In the order, U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon of the Southern District of Florida said Smith's report should not be made public after she previously ruled that he was illegally appointed to spearhead the case.
In July 2024, she said Smith's appointment as special counsel by President Joe Biden violated the Appointments Clause of the Constitution. She took issue with what she described as the "broad power" given to Smith, the "indefinite" appropriate given to the task and his lack of supervision.
Biden appointed Smith to investigate whether Trump -- then the former president -- mishandled classified documents by storing them at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla. Smith's probe resulted in 41 criminal counts against Trump, but Cannon dismissed the case in 2024.
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