WASHINGTON – U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon on Monday denied a request to extend an injunction barring the Justice Department from releasing a volume of a report that former special counsel Jack Smith issued on President-elect Donald Trump’s efforts to reverse his 2020 election defeat.
The ruling means the Justice Department could release the portion of the Smith report dealing with Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss as soon as midnight, barring future legal action by Trump or his team. Cannon maintained a ban on publishing the classified document portion of the report on the case, which the Justice Department said it had no intention of publishing at this time.
The Justice Department still has a motion pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit requesting that the portion of the report on the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol, regarding which the court has not yet ruled on.
After Cannon’s ruling on Monday, Trump’s lawyers made a last-ditch effort asking him to block the release of Smith’s entire report.
Smith resigned on Friday and Attorney General Merrick Garland told Congress he will release the volume of the report dealing with Trump’s 2020 efforts when he is legally permitted to do so. The volume of the report dealing with Trump’s handling of classified documents will not be released because two co-defendants still face charges.
The long-awaited report on Trump’s election interference efforts in the run-up to the Jan. 6 attack is expected to come out just days before he is sworn in.
Trump was charged with four federal crimes in connection with his attempts to overturn his election loss, but the case was blocked by delay tactics and was eventually dropped after Trump won the 2024 election. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.
As for the classified documents portion of the report, Cannon said he would hold a hearing Friday on whether that section can be shared with select members of Congress.
In Monday night’s filing, Trump’s lawyers asked Cannon to extend his temporary blocking of the entire report until Friday’s hearing and then allow them to join the hearing and argue for a permanent blocking of the report.
