A federal judge in Florida temporarily blocked the Department of Justice from releasing special counsel Jack Smith’s final report on probes into President-elect Donald Trump.

U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon said Tuesday she was enjoining the release while the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit reviews an emergency request from Mr. Trump’s co-defendants that says the release would cause them irreparable harm.

“That’s a big story,” Mr. Trump said at a press conference upon learning of the judge’s decision. “It will only be a fake report. That’s great news.”

Mr. Smith moved to dismiss his cases against Mr. Trump, citing precedent that sitting presidents should not be criminally prosecuted. Yet he drafted a final report as the record of his work.

It could be unflattering to the president-elect as he prepares for his inauguration on Jan. 20.

Mr. Trump’s team saw a draft copy of the report on probes, which focused on Mr. Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his decision to store classified materials at his Mar-a-Lago residence after he left office.

Judge Cannon’s order prevents the Justice Department from sharing the report with anyone outside the department.

Mr. Trump’s lawyers said that releasing the final report would violate the Presidential Transition Act and Presidential Immunity Doctrine.

They also said releasing the reports would “be nothing more than a lawless political stunt, designed to politically harm President Trump and justify the huge sums of taxpayer money Smith unconstitutionally spent on his failed and dismissed case.”

Judge Cannon was appointed by Mr. Trump during his first term. She’s delivered favorable rulings to Mr. Trump and dismissed the Mar-a-Lago documents case on the grounds that Mr. Smith was unlawfully appointed, leading liberals to accuse the judge of seeking favor or even a Supreme Court appointment.

Mr. Trump turned the focus back onto Mr. Smith during a news conference Tuesday, hours after he sought to block the release of Mr. Smith’s report.

“He’s a deranged individual,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Smith. “I guess he’s on his way back to The Hague. And we won those cases. Those were the biggest ones. And the press made such a big deal out of them. But we did nothing wrong. We did nothing wrong on anything.”

He called Mr. Smith “a mean, nasty guy.”

“His picture was perfect because if you look at his picture, you say, ’that’s a bad guy,’” Mr. Trump said, referring to Mr. Smith’s photo from The Hague, where he was a prosecutor.

• Mallory Wilson contributed to this story.

• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.