US judge allows release of report on Trump’s 2020 election case
Federal judge permits release of Jack Smith’s report, but injunction delays immediate disclosure
The US Justice Department can publicly release special counsel Jack Smith’s investigative report on President-elect Donald Trump’s 2020 election interference case, a federal judge said Monday in the latest ruling in a court dispute over the highly anticipated document days before Trump is set to reclaim the White House.
But a temporary injunction barring the immediate release of the report remains in effect until Tuesday, and it’s unlikely US District Judge Aileen Cannon’s order will be the last word on the matter. Defence lawyers may seek to challenge it all the way up to the Supreme Court.
Cannon, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, had earlier temporarily blocked the department from releasing the entire report on Smith’s investigations into Trump that led to two separate criminal cases.
Cannon’s latest order on Monday cleared the way for the release of the volume detailing Smith’s case that accused Trump, a Republican, of conspiring to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, a Democrat.
She set a hearing for Friday on whether the department can release to lawmakers a separate volume on the case that accused Trump of hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after he left the White House in 2021.
The department has said it will not publicly disclose that volume as long as criminal proceedings against two of Trump’s co-defendants remain pending.
