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DOJ says it accidentally disclosed secret Jack Smith documents to Judge Cannon

newsJul 2, 2026434,254

The Justice Department told Judge Eileen Cannon in a joint court filing that it accidentally disclosed copies of Volume II of former special counsel Jack Smith’s report when it furnished electronic discovery on flash drives to defense counsel under Rule 16. The filing says the government delivered the flash drives on June 3, 2026, and that defense counsel on June 9 identified three embedded documents, notified the government, ceased review, deleted downloaded materials, and cooperated to recover the drives. The government confirmed the embedded documents were copies of the Volume II Report that had been included within electronic messages required to be produced in discovery and acknowledged defense counsel’s professionalism and candor. The article notes that Volume II has been kept from public view for years and that a DOJ prosecutor is already on trial for emailing that same volume to her private email. Rep. Steve Cohen urged release of the report, saying Smith’s report would explain why classified-document handling by President Donald Trump has not been fully exposed. Reporting also cites a detail from Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan’s book that Trump joked about which documents he might take or make available after his term, a remark described in the article as a joke. Members of Congress continue pressing for transparency about the contents of Volume II and its public release.

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