The US Department of Justice can release special prosecutor Jack Smith’s investigation report into Donald Trump’s 2020 election interference case, a federal judge ruled Monday.
It is the latest decision in a legal dispute over the highly anticipated document, days before Mr. Trump returns to the White House.
A temporary injunction barring immediate release of the report, however, remains in effect until Tuesday, and U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s order is unlikely to end the litigation.
Mr. Trump’s lawyers could seek to challenge the order all the way to the Supreme Court.
Judge Cannon, who was appointed to the position by Mr. Trump, previously temporarily blocked the Justice Department from releasing the full report on Special Prosecutor Smith’s investigations into Mr. Trump that led to two criminal cases distinct.
Judge Cannon’s order Monday cleared the way for the release of the voluminous report detailing the case. Prosecutor Smith accused Mr. Trump of conspiring to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
The judge scheduled a hearing Friday to determine whether the Justice Department can release to elected officials the portion of the report that accuses Mr. Trump of hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago property after leaving the House. White in 2021.
The Justice Department has already made clear that it will not publicly release the full report while criminal proceedings against two of Mr. Trump’s co-defendants remain ongoing.
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Special prosecutor Jack Smith left his position at the Justice Department on Sunday, drawing mockery from Donald Trump, against whom Mr. Smith has initiated two federal legal proceedings.
Photo : Reuters / JONATHAN ERNST
Prosecutions dropped
Judge Cannon dismissed the classified documents case last July, finding that Special Prosecutor Smith’s appointment was illegal.
-The Justice Department dropped both cases after Mr. Trump’s presidential victory in November, citing its policy that bars federal prosecutions of sitting presidents.
Mr. Smith resigned from his post last Friday after forwarding his report to Attorney General Merrick Garland, the Justice Department revealed in a footnote to a court filing late this week.
Judge Cannon’s decision, if upheld, could allow people to learn additional details in the coming days about Mr. Trump’s frantic, but ultimately unsuccessful, effort to cling to power before the deadly insurrection of January 6, 2021 at the Capitol.
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According to the indictment in his mistrial, the ex-president stored confidential documents in several rooms of his Mar-a-Lago residence, including a bathroom.
Photo: Reuters / United States Department of Justice
But even though Judge Cannon allowed the volume on election interference to be released, she blocked the Justice Department from immediately sharing with congressional officials a separate volume related to the classified documents Mr. Trump took to Mar-a -Lago, Florida.
Lawyers for the president-elect’s two co-defendants, Mr. Trump’s valet Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira, argued that releasing the report would harm them given that criminal charges are still pending. pending against them, in the form of a Justice Department appeal of Judge Cannon’s decision to dismiss the charges.
As a compromise, the Justice Department said it would not make the document public, but instead would share it with select congressional officials for private review. Judge Cannon halted those plans and instead scheduled a hearing for Friday afternoon.
All parties agree that Volume II relates expressly and directly to these criminal proceedings
she wrote.
All parties also appear to agree that the public release of Volume II would be inconsistent with the fair trial rights of defendants Nauta and De Oliveira and with Department of Justice policy governing the release of information during the pendency of criminal proceedings.
