'Undermining the rule of law': Watchdog targets Cannon gag order on Jack Smith’s Trump report
Aileen M. Cannon, United States District Judge, Southern District of Florida, Image via Wikimedia Commons / Creative Commons (Left). Former special counsel Jack Smith, Image via Screengrab / CSPAN (Right).
American Oversight, Salon reports, has repeatedly asked Cannon to vacate her gag order to no avail, and the watchdog group feels that releasing the report will shed light on FBI Director Kash Patel, who claimed in his confirmation hearings that Trump declassified the documents in question before he left office.
“As the Trump administration continues to target its perceived political enemies over the alleged handling of classified documents, the public is still being denied access to special counsel Smith’s findings about Trump’s own mishandling of classified documents,” Chioma Chukwu, the executive director of American Oversight, said in a statement.
“Transparency isn’t optional in a democracy. The public has a right to know what Special Counsel Smith found, and the Justice Department cannot continue to withhold a report that should have been released nearly a year ago under federal law. By keeping this order in place, Judge Cannon is undermining both accountability and the rule of law," Chukwu said.
