Former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s final report on his investigation into President-elect Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election may be released as soon as early Tuesday, as Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon denied a request to delay the report’s release—though Trump and his co-defendants could try and seek relief from the Supreme Court.
President-elect Donald Trump speaks to members of the media during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago ... [+]
Cannon refused to extend an earlier order she issued that blocked the Justice Department from releasing Smith’s final report, which is set to expire at midnight Monday.
Smith—who has already resigned from the DOJ—has drafted a final report on his investigations into Trump, with one volume on his case against Trump for trying to overturn the 2020 election, and one volume on the separate case regarding Trump’s alleged withholding of White House documents.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week the report can be released, but Cannon’s earlier order said the ruling shouldn’t be released until three days after the appeals court order, and the 11th Circuit kept that provision in place.
Attorney General Merrick Garland has previously said he only intends to publicly release the volume of the report covering the election case, and does not want to make the documents case volume public while Trump’s co-defendants still face prosecution in the case.
Cannon sided with the government and said the volume covering the federal election case can be released, as the government argued she couldn’t keep it hidden since it concerns a totally different case than the one she oversaw.
The judge declined to issue a ruling on releasing the volume covering the documents case, however—which the DOJ only wants to make available to certain members of Congress and not release publicly—and scheduled a hearing for Friday to consider whether she should allow the documents case to stay hidden even to lawmakers.
Cannon’s ruling means the Justice Department should be able to release the volume of Smith’s report covering the 2020 election case any time after midnight. There’s a chance it could be released quicker if the 11th Circuit throws out Cannon’s order from last week that delayed the report’s release—which the DOJ has asked it to do—though it’s unlikely, as Trump’s lawyers still haven’t responded to the DOJ’s request, and that’s required before the court can issue a ruling. Trump or his co-defendants in the documents case could also go to the Supreme Court Monday to try and seek a last-minute ruling blocking the report from being made public. If the Supreme Court were to delay the report’s release, that could mean it would never be made public—even if justices ultimately ruled it could be—if the legal battle gets drawn out past Trump’s inauguration Jan. 20. If the report still hasn’t been released by that point, it would be up to Pam Bondi, Trump’s pick for attorney general, to decide whether Smith’s report should be released publicly—which she’s unlikely to do, given its criticism of the president-elect.
This story is breaking and will be updated.