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21 hours ago
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The Florida judge who has overseen one of the criminal cases against Donald Trump has blocked the release of Special Counsel Jack Smith‘s final report on his investigations.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon ordered that the Justice Department be temporarily enjoined from releasing the report as the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals reviews the issue.
After Trump was elected in November, Smith moved to dismiss both of his pending cases against him. They included charges that Trump withheld classified documents after he left the White House, and other charges that he conspired to remain in power even though he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden. Trump plead not guilty to all of the charges.
Even though the cases against Trump were dismissed, Smith has continued to an appeal relating to two co-defendants in the classified documents investigation, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira.
According to Smith, the report is two volumes, and it lays out his prosecution decisions. In a filing, Smith wrote that he will not transmit the report to Attorney General Merrick Garland before 1 p.m. ET today. After that, he wrote, Garland will decide “whether any portion of the report should be released
to the public.” Smith also indicated that the report would not be released to the public, if at all, before 10 a.m. on Friday.
It’s unclear what kind of bombshells the report will include, but Trump’s legal team signaled that it would be damaging to the president-elect.
His legal team reviewed the report in Smith’s office between January 3 to 6, according to a letter from Trump’s attorneys Todd Blanche and John Lauro. They wrote that the report was “one-sided,” and his attorney Todd Blanche wrote that it would give rise “to a media storm of false and unfair criticism that President Trump would be required to address while preparing to assume his Article II responsibilities.”
