The long-buried second volume of former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report into Donald Trump’s classified documents case may be one step closer to seeing the light of day.
On Monday, the 11th Circuit ordered Judge Aileen Cannon to “fully resolve” an application to release Volume II of Smith’s report within 60 days. That could spell big news as the new year begins in 2026.
Separately, Attorney General Pam Bondi tried to shore up the legitimacy of Trump-installed interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan by purporting to retroactively declare her appointment as a “special attorney” as of Sept. 22.
Bondi wrote that in a document dated Oct. 31.
and I unpacked the developments in a Substack Live that aired on Monday evening. Here are a few postscripts for our conversation:
Trump’s Justice Department dismissed the cases against his former co-defendants Waltine Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira, weakening the argument that the report must remain hidden to protect their rights to a fair trial.
After this conversation, I interviewed a senior attorney at Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, which moved to unseal the Smith report’s second volume.
Senior counsel Scott Wilkens noted that Judge Cannon has a copy of the report in her chambers, and the Knight Institute has argued that the public has a right to access that judicial document.
Wilkens noted: “From my research, this is the only report by a special counsel that has not been released to the public.”
