Florida District Judge Aileen Cannon has cleared the way for the Justice Department to release the first part of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into President-elect Donald Trump. This first volume covers the inquiry and charges related to Trump’s actions surrounding the 2020 presidential election.
Cannon rejected a request from Trump’s former co-defendants who had tried to block the release of Smith’s report on the election interference case.
The Justice Department has been in a legal battle over whether it can publicly release Smith’s final report on his cases against Trump. This report is a key part of the special counsel’s role and could be the last opportunity for prosecutors to explain their decisions, especially after they dropped federal charges against Trump once he won the election. Trump faces charges related to election interference in Washington, D.C., as well as for hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort and refusing to return them to the FBI.
While the DOJ agreed not to release the second volume of the report, which deals with the classified documents case, to avoid interfering with ongoing legal proceedings against two other defendants, it still plans to release the first volume.
Last week, Cannon, who was appointed by Trump, temporarily blocked the full release of Smith’s report until a federal appeals court can resolve the legal dispute.
Trump has argued that the special counsel’s appointment was unlawful and that any public report would be legally invalid, potentially harming his transition back into the White House.
There’s still a chance that this decision could be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which could ultimately block the report’s release.
