On Tuesday, the judge presiding over the federal government’s prosecution of former President Donald Trump for the alleged wrongful retention of documents at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida has ruled that unredacted documents showing the names of government witnesses will be made available to the public.
US District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, ruled that special counsel Jack Smith failed to make the case that the names should remain redacted.
Cannon wrote, “Following an independent review of the Motion and the full record, the Court determines, with limited exceptions as detailed below, that the Special Counsel has not set forth a sufficient factual or legal basis warranting deviation from the strong presumption in favor of public access to the records at issue.”
Cannon added in the order that the majority of Smith’s proposed redactions “refers in general terms to witness safety and intimidation,” noting, “Although substantiated witness safety and intimidation concerns can form a valid basis for overriding the strong presumption in favor of public access, the Special Counsel’s sparse and undifferentiated Response fails to provide the Court with the necessary factual basis to justify sealing.”
She continued that Smith’s arguments did not offer any concrete factual support “or otherwise identifies any supporting evidence in the record to justify granting the Special Counsel’s broad and unspecified requests on those bases.”
A request to conceal the FBI code name of a separate investigation was also denied. Cannon wrote that “the Special Counsel fails to identify the information at issue, provide any explanation about the nature of the investigation, or explain how disclosure of the code name would prejudice or jeopardize the integrity of the separate investigation (assuming it remains ongoing).”
Smith’s request to redact certain “personal identifying information” from the filings was granted by the judge.
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