A federal judge in Florida has ruled that the second volume of special counsel Jack Smith’s final report examining Donald Trump’s handling of classified materials at Mar-a-Lago will remain sealed and not be made public.

In a decision issued Monday, US District Judge Aileen Cannon determined that the portion of Smith’s report dealing with the classified documents investigation cannot be released. Cannon had previously dismissed the criminal case Smith filed against Trump prior to his return to office, and her latest ruling represents another legal victory for Trump in preventing the public disclosure of the special counsel’s conclusions.

Before departing his role in early 2025, Smith submitted a two-part final report to then-Attorney General Merrick Garland. The first volume, which focused on Trump’s alleged attempts to challenge the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, was made public before Trump reentered the White House. However, the second volume — addressing the classified documents case in South Florida — remained under seal following legal challenges brought by Trump and others charged in the matter.

In her 15-page opinion, Cannon wrote that “it is certainly not customary” for a prosecutor whose case was thrown out to later be allowed to “publicly disseminate large swaths of discovery generated in the case.”

She further stated, “The Court strains to find a situation in which a former special counsel has released a report after initiating criminal charges that did not result in a finding of guilt, at least not in a situation like this one, where the defendants contested the charges from the outset and still proclaim their innocence.”

Cannon, who ruled in 2024 that Smith’s appointment as special counsel was unlawful, criticized the preparation of the report itself, asserting that it ran counter to her prior orders ending the work of his office in connection with the classified documents investigation.

“The Court need not countenance this brazen stratagem or effectively perpetuate the Special Counsel’s breach of this Court’s own order,” she wrote.

At the same time, Cannon rejected a motion from two former co-defendants of Trump seeking to have the report destroyed altogether.

In response to the ruling, Trump’s personal attorney, Kendra Wharton, praised the decision, saying Cannon was correct to “permanently prohibit the release of Volume II of Jack Smith’s illegal report,” and adding that “all fruit of Smith’s poisonous tree should be treated accordingly and should never see the light of day.”

Despite the ruling, the question of public access to the second volume — often referred to as Volume II — remains the subject of ongoing appellate proceedings initiated by government transparency advocates.

One such organization, American Oversight, criticized Cannon’s decision, saying it “continues a troubling pattern of decisions that shield the president from public scrutiny and place secrecy above the public’s right to know.”

“American taxpayers funded this investigation, and they have a right to know what their government uncovered, particularly on matters of national security,” said Chioma Chukwu, the group’s executive director, in a statement.2