MIAMI, FL—The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University today filed a motion before Judge Aileen Cannon, who presided over the Justice Department’s now-abandoned prosecution of then-former-President Trump for his mishandling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, asserting that the public has a First Amendment right of access to the Special Counsel’s still-secret report about the case. 

“The Special Counsel’s report would inform the public about the character and actions of the nation’s highest official, about one of the most significant criminal investigations in American history, and about the Justice Department’s interpretation of the Espionage Act, a statute with broad implications for free speech,” said Scott Wilkens, a Senior Counsel at the Knight Institute. “The First Amendment gives the public a right of access to this report, and the court should publish at least a redacted version of it right away.” 

Special Counsel Jack Smith filed indictments in the summer of 2023 charging then-former-President Trump with 32 counts of violating the Espionage Act, and charging Trump associates Walter Nauta and De Oliveira with other crimes, in connection with Trump’s mishandling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. The Special Counsel abandoned the case against Trump after he won the November 2024 election, but he completed a report about his investigation in January 2025. At Nauta and De Oliveira’s request, Judge Cannon issued an injunction barring the Justice Department from sharing the report publicly, or even with congressional leaders, while the cases against them were ongoing. After Trump took office, however, the Justice Department dismissed the charges against Nauta and De Oliveria. In the motion filed today, the Knight Institute argues that there is no longer any basis for the injunction prohibiting release of the report, and that both the common law and the First Amendment provide the public with a “right of access” to it. 

“A major purpose of the First Amendment was to protect the free discussion of governmental affairs, and the Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the First Amendment protects the public’s right of access to documents filed in connection with criminal trials,” said Anna Diakun, a Staff Attorney at the Knight Institute. “Given the significance of the Special Counsel’s report, and the role it played in proceedings before Judge Cannon, there is really no question that both the common law and the First Amendment require the report’s release.”

The Knight Institute earlier filed a FOIA request for the report but the Justice Department declined to release it, citing (among other things) Judge Cannon’s injunction. Other organizations have filed FOIA requests for the report as well. On February 14, American Oversight filed a motion before Judge Cannon requesting that she lift the injunction. Today’s motion, however, is the first time anyone has asserted that the public has a common law or constitutional right of access to the document. 

Read today’s motion here.

Read more about the case here.

Lawyers on the case include Scott Wilkens, Anna Diakun, Theo Tamayo, and Jameel Jaffer from the Knight First Amendment Institute, and David M. Buckner from Buckner + Miles.

For more information, contact: Adriana Lamirande, [email protected]