Pam Bondi is defending President Donald Trump’s effort to keep the files on his alleged mishandling of classified documents from public scrutiny.
A court filing on Friday stated that the attorney general believes that Volume II of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report on Trump’s potentially criminal actions should remain hidden from the American people who elected him.
Bondi, 60, “has determined that Volume II is an internal deliberative communication that is privileged and confidential and should not be released outside the Department of Justice,” government lawyers said in the filing.
Florida Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee who tossed Trump’s classified documents case in 2024 because she ruled Smith’s appointment was unconstitutional, is handling the case.
Earlier this week, Trump, 79, filed a motion claiming that releasing the files would “lead to the public dissemination of sensitive grand jury materials, attorney-client privileged information, and other information derived from protected discovery materials, raising significant statutory, due process, and privacy concerns for President Trump and his former co-defendants.”
Volume I, released on Jan. 7, 2025, less than two weeks before Trump’s second presidential inauguration, dealt with Trump’s alleged 2020 election interference efforts.
Smith, who testified to lawmakers this week, said he and his team had obtained “proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that Trump was guilty of trying to overturn the election results and that he hid classified documents at Mar-a-Lago and tried to obstruct the investigation into it.
Trump “engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results and prevent the lawful transfer of power,” Smith told Congress, adding that the president “illegally kept classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago social club and repeatedly tried to obstruct justice to conceal his continued retention of those documents.”
Trump naturally freaked out by launching personal attacks against Smith, 56, whom he called a “deranged animal.” He also called for Smith to be prosecuted for perjury, but didn’t offer specifics to back up his claim.
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