Donald Trump and special counsel Jack Smith. File
| Photo Credit: AFP
The Justice Department can publicly release its investigative report on President-elect Donald Trump’s 2020 election interference case, a federal judge said on Monday (January 13, 2025) — the latest ruling in a court dispute over the highly anticipated document days before Mr. Trump is set to take office again.
But a temporary injunction barring the immediate release of the report remains in effect until Tuesday (January 14, 2025), and it’s unlikely U.S. 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.
Judge Cannon had earlier temporarily blocked the department from releasing the entire report on Jack Smith’s investigations into Mr. Trump that led to two separate criminal cases. Judge Cannon’s latest order on Monday (January 13, 2025) cleared the way for the release of the volume on Mr. Trump’s 2020 election interference case.
She set a hearing for Friday (January 17, 2025) on whether the department can release to lawmakers the volume on Mr. Trump’s classified documents case. 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.
Mr. Smith resigned his position on Friday (January 10, 2025) after transmitting his report to Attorney General Merrick Garland, the Justice Department revealed in a footnote in a court filing over the weekend.
The ruling, if it stands, could open the door for the public to learn additional details in the coming days about Mr. Trump’s frantic but ultimately failed effort to cling to power in the run-up to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol.
But even as Judge Cannon permitted the release of the volume on election interference, she halted the Justice Department from immediately sharing with congressional officials a separate volume related to Mr. Trump’s hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. Lawyers for the Republican president elect’s two co-defendants, Trump valet Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira, had argued that the release of the report would prejudice them given that criminal proceedings remain ongoing against them in the form of a Justice Department appeal of Judge Cannon’s dismissal of charges.
As a compromise, the Justice Department said that it would not make that document public but would instead share it with select congressional officials for their private review. But Judge Cannon halted those plans and instead scheduled a hearing for Friday afternoon (January 17, 2025).
“All parties agree that Volume II expressly and directly concerns this criminal proceeding,” she wrote. “All parties also appear to agree that 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.”
Published – January 13, 2025 11:49 pm IST
