WASHINGTON (AP) — A First Amendment group and watchdog organization pressed a federal appeals court on Tuesday to compel the release of a Justice Department special counsel's report on the criminal investigation into President Donald Trump's handling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
Even though the charges against the Republican president were dismissed last year, the volume of special counsel Jack Smith's final report related to the classified documents case has remained under wraps because of an order from U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon. The case accused Trump of hoarding classified documents at his Florida estate and thwarting government efforts to retrieve them, but Cannon ruled that Smith's appointment was illegal and threw out the charges.
The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and American Oversight are now pressing for the report's release in separate filings Tuesday with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The groups argue there is no legitimate reason to keep secret the report stemming from what was widely regarded as the most perilous of all the prosecutions Trump confronted before his White House return.
“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," said Chioma Chukwu, executive director of American Oversight. "By keeping this order in place, Judge Cannon is undermining both accountability and the rule of law.”
Cannon, who was appointed to the bench by Trump, blocked the Justice Department in January from handing over to Congress the volume related to the classified documents case after defense lawyers argued it would be one-sided and prejudicial. At the time, an appeal was still pending in the case against Trump's co-defendants — Trump valet Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira — but the Justice Department has since abandoned those criminal proceedings as well.
The Knight Institute filed a motion in February urging Cannon to allow for the report's release, but the judge has yet to rule. It's asking the appeals court to force Cannon to issue a ruling, calling the delay “manifestly unreasonable.”
“This report is of singular importance to the public because it addresses allegations of grave criminal conduct by the nation’s highest-ranking official,” said Jameel Jaffer, executive director of Knight Institute, said in a statement. “There is no legitimate reason for the report’s continued suppression, and it should be posted on the court’s public docket without further delay.”
The classified documents case had been seen as the most legally clear-cut of the four Trump had faced, given the breadth of evidence that prosecutors say they had accumulated, including the testimony of close aides and former lawyers, and because the conduct at issue occurred after Trump left the White House in 2021 and lost the powers of the presidency.
Trump had denied any wrongdoing and criticized all the cases against him as a politically motivated attempt to thwart his bid to return to the White House.
The first volume of Smith's report — focused on Trump's 2020 election interference case — was publicly released in January. In that portion of the report, Smith defended his decision to bring criminal charges over Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election and said he believed it would have resulted in a conviction had voters not returned Trump to the White House.
President Donald Trump gestures as he arrives at the White House, Friday, Sept. 26, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
FILE - Special counsel Jack Smith speaks to the media about an indictment of former President Donald Trump, Aug. 1, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez on Thursday asked lawmakers to approve reforms to the oil industry that would open the doors to greater foreign investment during her first state of the union speech less than two weeks after its longtime leader was toppled by the United States.
Rodríguez, who has been under pressure by the Trump administration to fall in line with its vision for the oil-rich nation, said sales of Venezuelan oil would go to bolster crisis-stricken health services, economic development and other infrastructure projects.
She outlined a distinct vision for the future, straying from her predecessors, who have long railed against American intervention in Venezeula. “Let us not be afraid of diplomacy” with the U.S., said Rodriguez, the former vice president who must now navigate competing pressures from the Trump administration and a government loyal to former President Nicolás Maduro.
The speech, which was broadcast on a delay in Venezuela, came one day after Rodríguez said her government would continue releasing prisoners detained under Maduro in what she described as “a new political moment” since his ouster.
On Thursday, Trump met at the White House with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, whose political party is widely considered to have won 2024 elections rejected by Maduro. But in endorsing Rodríguez, who served as Maduro’s vice president since 2018, Trump has sidelined Machado.
Rodríguez, who had a call with Trump earlier this week, said Wednesday evening on state television that her government would use “every dollar” earned from oil sales to overhaul the nation’s public health care system. Hospitals and other health care facilities across the country have long been crumbling, and patients are asked to provide practically all supplies needed for their care, from syringes to surgical screws.
The acting president must walk a tightrope, balancing pressures from both Washington and top Venezuelan officials who hold sway over Venezuela's security forces and strongly oppose the U.S. Her recent public speeches reflect those tensions — vacillating from conciliatory calls for cooperation with the U.S., to defiant rants echoing the anti-imperialist rhetoric of her toppled predecessor.
American authorities have long railed against a government they describe as a “dictatorship,” while Venezuela’s government has built a powerful populist ethos sharply opposed to U.S. meddling in its affairs.
For the foreseeable future, Rodríguez's government has been effectively relieved of having to hold elections. That's because when Venezuela’s high court granted Rodríguez presidential powers on an acting basis, it cited a provision of the constitution that allows the vice president to take over for a renewable period of 90 days.
Trump enlisted Rodríguez to help secure U.S. control over Venezuela’s oil sales despite sanctioning her for human rights violations during his first term. To ensure she does his bidding, Trump threatened Rodríguez earlier this month with a “situation probably worse than Maduro.”
Maduro, who is being held in a Brooklyn jail, has pleaded not guilty to drug-trafficking charges.
Before Rodríguez’s speech on Thursday, a group of government supporters was allowed into the presidential palace, where they chanted for Maduro, who the government insists remains the country’s president. “Maduro, resist, the people are rising,” they shouted.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez makes a statement to the press at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez, center, smiles flanked by Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, right, and National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez after making a statement to the press at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
