By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and ERIC TUCKER

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Monday permanently barred the release of a report by special counsel Jack Smith on his investigation into President Donald Trump’s hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

Related Articles

State Department orders nonessential US diplomats to leave Lebanon as tensions with Iran soar

Rubio heads to Caribbean to reassert US interests after Venezuela strikes and Iran threats

FBI director joins US men’s hockey team in locker room celebration of Olympic gold medal

How Trump will use his State of the Union address to sell skeptical midterm voters on his plans

25 Mexican National Guard troops left dead in Jalisco after cartel leader’s killing, official says

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, granted a request from the Republican president to keep under wraps the report on a criminal investigation once seen as posing significant legal peril to Trump.

Smith and his team produced a two-volume report on investigations into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election after he lost to Joe Biden and his retention of classified documents at his estate in Palm Beach, Florida, after he left the White House following his first term.

Both investigations produced indictments that were abandoned by Smith’s team after Trump’s November 2024 election win in light of longstanding Justice Department legal opinions that say sitting presidents cannot face federal prosecution.

Cannon, who in 2024 dismissed the case after concluding that Smith was unlawfully appointed, said the release of the report would present a “manifest injustice” to Trump and his two co-defendants.

“Special Counsel Smith, acting without lawful authority, obtained an indictment in this action and initiated proceedings that resulted in a final order of dismissal of all charges,” she wrote. “As a result, the former defendants in this case, like any other defendant in this situation, still enjoy the presumption of innocence held sacrosanct in our constitutional order.”

President Donald Trump attends the National Governors Association dinner at the White House, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)

She said that though it is true that special counsels have historically released reports at the conclusion of their work, they have done so either after electing not to bring charges in a particular case or “after adjudications of guilt by plea or trial.”

“The Court strains to find a situation in which a former special counsel has released a report after initiating criminal charges that did not result in a finding of guilt, at least not in a situation like this one, where the defendants contested the charges from the outset and still proclaim their innocence.”

By HOGIR AL ABDO, GHAITH ALSAYED and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA

QAMISHLI, Syria (AP) — U.S. forces are withdrawing from a key base in northeastern Syria, officials said Monday, in what appears to be part of a larger drawdown of U.S. forces in Syria.

Iraqi and Syrian security officials said that the U.S. military had begun moving its forces and equipment from the Qasrak base in Syria to Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region.

Related Articles

Judge blocks release of special counsel Smith’s report on Trump classified documents case

State Department orders nonessential US diplomats to leave Lebanon as tensions with Iran soar

Rubio heads to Caribbean to reassert US interests after Venezuela strikes and Iran threats

FBI director joins US men’s hockey team in locker room celebration of Olympic gold medal

How Trump will use his State of the Union address to sell skeptical midterm voters on his plans

Associated Press journalists in the city of Qamishli in northeast Syria saw a convoy of dozens of trucks carrying military vehicles and equipment Monday, with military helicopters circling overhead, moving toward the Iraqi border.

The U.S. military’s Central Command did not respond to a request for comment, nor did the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which controls the area around the Qasrak base.

A senior Iraqi security official said evacuation of the base had begun Sunday and that on Monday, U.S. forces and military equipment coming from the base crossed into Iraq’s semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region.

A Syrian security official said about 200 soldiers remained at the base Monday and that work was underway to dismantle military jamming and air defense systems and the engineering section at the base.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

Earlier this month, CENTCOM and Syria’s defense ministry announced that U.S. troops had left another base, the al-Tanf base in eastern Syria near the border with Jordan.

The departure of U.S. forces from the bases comes after the U.S. military completed the transfer of some 5,700 accused Islamic State militants from detention centers in northeast Syria to prisons in Iraq, where they will be put on trial.

The main mission of the U.S. troops in Syria is to prevent a resurgence of IS. The extremist group lost control of the last territory it held in Syria in 2019 but its sleeper cells have continued to stage periodic attacks in Syria, Iraq and abroad.

The decision to transfer the prisoners to Iraq came after fighting between Syrian government forces and the SDF last month, during which dozens of prisoners escaped from one of the detention centers holding IS suspects, while an unknown number of families are believed to have fled from al Hol camp, which housed the wives and children of IS members.

The remaining residents of the camp have now been transferred to another facility or repatriated.

AlSayed reported from Damascus and Abdul-Zahra from Baghdad.

By MATTHEW LEE, AP Diplomatic Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States has ordered nonessential diplomats and their family members to leave Lebanon, a State Department official said Monday, as tensions over Iran rise with the threat of a potentially imminent military strike.

Related Articles

Judge blocks release of special counsel Smith’s report on Trump classified documents case

Rubio heads to Caribbean to reassert US interests after Venezuela strikes and Iran threats

FBI director joins US men’s hockey team in locker room celebration of Olympic gold medal

How Trump will use his State of the Union address to sell skeptical midterm voters on his plans

25 Mexican National Guard troops left dead in Jalisco after cartel leader’s killing, official says

The official said a continuous assessment of the regional security environment determined it was “prudent” to draw down the U.S. Embassy’s footprint so that only essential personnel remained at their posts.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the move had not yet been formally announced, said that it is a temporary measure and that the embassy remained operational Monday.

Iran held annual military drills with Russia last week as a second American aircraft carrier drew closer to the Middle East, with both the United States and Iran signaling they are prepared for war if talks on Tehran’s nuclear program fizzle out.

President Donald Trump said Thursday that he believes 10 to 15 days is “enough time” for Iran to reach a deal. But the talks have been deadlocked for years, and Iran has refused to discuss wider U.S. and Israeli demands that it scale back its missile program and sever ties to armed groups. Indirect talks held in recent weeks made little visible progress, and one or both sides could be buying time for final war preparations.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks at a news conference during the Critical Minerals Ministerial meeting at the State Department, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

A second department official, also speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss plans that had not been formally announced, said Secretary of State Marco Rubio may delay his intended visits to Israel this weekend.

By ANDREW DALTON, AP Entertainment Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nick Reiner may finally enter a plea Monday in the killing of his parents, Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner, after two previous court hearings that brought some drama but little practical progress in the case.

Reiner is set to appear in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom for his arraignment on two counts of first-degree murder with his new attorney Kimberly Greene, a public defender.

Related Articles

EU diplomats set to meet Board of Peace director over Gaza’s future

US futures slip and world markets are mixed after the Supreme Court nixes Trump’s tariffs

Today in History: February 23, American speedskater first to win 5 gold medals in a single Olympics

How Trump will use his State of the Union address to sell skeptical midterm voters on his plans

Mexico fears more violence after army kills leader of powerful Jalisco cartel

Reiner, 32, the third of Rob Reiner’s four children, has been held without bail since his arrest hours after the actor-director and his wife of 36 years were found dead with stab wounds on Dec. 14 at their home in the upscale Brentwood section of Los Angeles.

Reiner’s previous attorney, the high-profile private lawyer Alan Jackson, had to quit the case at the previous hearing in January because of what he called circumstances beyond his and his client’s control. He said legal ethics would not allow him to say why, but in parting he adamantly declared outside the courthouse that “pursuant to the laws of California, Nick Reiner is not guilty of murder.”

Jackson did not elaborate but said the conclusion came after weeks of intensive investigation before his team had to hand the case off. He said he wanted to push back against false reporting on the case.

It’s not clear who hired Jackson to represent Reiner or who was paying the bill. Generally, defendants use public defenders when they can’t afford a private attorney.

Reiner is expected to plead not guilty, as is common for criminal defendants at this stage of the case, whatever their longer-term plan might be.

Reiner wore a suicide prevention smock at his initial court appearance in December but appeared without it at the hearing in January.

FILE – Rob Reiner, right, and wife Michele Singer Reiner attend the SNL50: The Homecoming Concert at Radio City Music Hall on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

Rob Reiner, 78, and Michele Singer Reiner, 70, died from “multiple sharp force injuries,” the LA County Medical Examiner said in initial findings. Authorities said they were killed hours before the bodies were discovered. A court order has prevented the release of more details. Authorities have said nothing about possible motives.

Prosecutors have said they have not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty for Nick Reiner, who is eligible for it under the charges.

Rob Reiner was a prolific director whose work included some of the most memorable and endlessly watchable movies of the 1980s and ’90s. His credits included “This is Spinal Tap,” “Stand By Me,” “A Few Good Men,” and “When Harry Met Sally… ,” during whose production he met photographer Michele Singer and married her soon after.