Smith makes a similarly unfortunate decision regarding volume two of the report, relating to the so-called Classified Documents case. Despite all the attention on Judge Aileen Cannon’s questionable handling of the report in recent days, it is Smith who says that the second volume of the report should not be publicly released.
His reasoning is that criminal charges are still theoretically pending against Trump’s two co-defendants and releasing the report could prejudice them. Given the convoluted procedural posture of that case, this means the public will likely never see the report even though those co-defendants will almost certainly not face further criminal proceedings.
The most disturbing choice made by Smith is revealed in his Jan. 7, 2025 letter to Garland. In it he writes that “the Office extended Mr. Trump a special accommodation by allowing his counsel to review a draft of the Report. Such an accommodation is not required under the law or regulations.”
Predictably, Trump’s lawyers used that “special accommodation” to run to Judge Cannon’s courtroom to try to block the issuance of the report. This leaves the question of why.
Why, after all of Trump’s bad faith, his misconduct, his threats and lies aimed at the prosecutors, was he still offered a “special accommodation?” Why, when he was charged with conspiring to prevent the peaceful transfer of power, was he owed any courtesy — no less a “special accommodation?”
Only Smith knows the answer. He should be forced to explain it further.
What we do know is that Trump has manipulated the criminal justice system from start to finish. Court after court, prosecutor after prosecutor, have accommodated Trump. They have permitted him to play by a different set of rules and watched idly as he made a mockery of the notion that no man is above the law. At each stage, they have an explanation — an excuse — as to why their special accommodation was the right thing to do.
Many of us hoped that Smith’s report, a document he alone could control, that Garland alone could release, would end that practice. Sadly, we were wrong. Smith’s report, half of which we will never see, was just another special accommodation of a man who deserved none. Sadly, we the people are the victims once again.
