berg80
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- Oct 28, 2017
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Three years ago this month, the Justice Department indicted Donald Trump under the Espionage Act for concealing and refusing to return classified documents after his departure from the White House. Mr. Trump hasn’t had to face trial, and he hasn’t had to fully account to the public for his actions, either.
The Justice Department abandoned the case against Mr. Trump after he won the 2024 election, citing a longstanding departmental policy against prosecuting sitting presidents. Since Mr. Trump returned to the White House, the Justice Department has worked hand in glove with his current lawyers to suppress the department’s report about its investigation of his actions. Judge Aileen Cannon of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, a Trump appointee who presided over Mr. Trump’s case, has issued an order prohibiting the Justice Department from disseminating the report — and effectively prohibiting Jack Smith, the special counsel who wrote it, from speaking about it publicly or even testifying about it to Congress.
Judge Cannon’s order should be vacated and Mr. Smith’s report released. There is a respectable argument for sparing a sitting president the burden of defending himself from criminal charges, but if presidents are to be immune from prosecution while in office, it’s all the more important that Congress and the public have access to the information that would empower them to hold the president accountable in other ways.
www.nytimes.com
Ordering that the report be withheld from public view isn't the first time Aileen has sought to protect Don. There was also the matter of the special master. A ruling overturned by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. The same Court that would have overturned her ruling that the docs case be dropped had trump not been elected.
Mr. Smith investigated Mr. Trump for conduct that appears to have entailed an astonishing betrayal of the public’s trust as well as the nation’s security. Legislators and ordinary citizens should have the opportunity to read the report for themselves. It is incoherent to immunize the president from prosecution on the theory that he can be held accountable through the political process — and then to deny Congress and the public information that would help them do so.
Agreed.
The Justice Department abandoned the case against Mr. Trump after he won the 2024 election, citing a longstanding departmental policy against prosecuting sitting presidents. Since Mr. Trump returned to the White House, the Justice Department has worked hand in glove with his current lawyers to suppress the department’s report about its investigation of his actions. Judge Aileen Cannon of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, a Trump appointee who presided over Mr. Trump’s case, has issued an order prohibiting the Justice Department from disseminating the report — and effectively prohibiting Jack Smith, the special counsel who wrote it, from speaking about it publicly or even testifying about it to Congress.
Judge Cannon’s order should be vacated and Mr. Smith’s report released. There is a respectable argument for sparing a sitting president the burden of defending himself from criminal charges, but if presidents are to be immune from prosecution while in office, it’s all the more important that Congress and the public have access to the information that would empower them to hold the president accountable in other ways.
Opinion | Fine, Don’t Prosecute President Trump. But Release Jack Smith’s Report.
Its suppression is highly irregular and disturbing.
www.nytimes.com
Ordering that the report be withheld from public view isn't the first time Aileen has sought to protect Don. There was also the matter of the special master. A ruling overturned by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. The same Court that would have overturned her ruling that the docs case be dropped had trump not been elected.
Mr. Smith investigated Mr. Trump for conduct that appears to have entailed an astonishing betrayal of the public’s trust as well as the nation’s security. Legislators and ordinary citizens should have the opportunity to read the report for themselves. It is incoherent to immunize the president from prosecution on the theory that he can be held accountable through the political process — and then to deny Congress and the public information that would help them do so.
Agreed.
