WASHINGTON — U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon on Monday denied a request to extend an injunction banning the Justice Department from releasing a volume of a report former special counsel Jack Smith issued about President-elect Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.
The ruling means the Justice Department could release the part of the Smith report that deals with Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss as soon as midnight, barring future legal action from Trump or his team. Cannon kept in place a prohibition on releasing the part of the report about the classified document case, which the Justice Department said it didn’t intend to release at this point.
The Justice Department still has a pending motion before the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals asking to release the part of the report about the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol immediately, which the court has yet to rule on.
After Cannon’s ruling on Monday, Trump’s lawyers filed a last ditch effort asking her to prevent the release of Smith’s entire report.
Smith resigned Friday, and Attorney General Merrick Garland has told Congress he will release the volume of the report that deals with Trump’s 2020 efforts when he is legally allowed to do so. The volume of the report that deals with Trump’s handling of classified documents won’t be released because two co-defendants still face charges.
The long-awaited report into Trump’s election interference efforts in the lead-up to the Jan. 6 attack is expected to come out just days before he takes the oath of office.
Trump was indicted on four federal felony charges in connection with his attempts to overturn his election loss, but the case was stymied by delay tactics, and it was ultimately dropped after Trump won the 2024 election. Trump has denied all wrongdoing.
As for the part of the report about classified documents, Cannon said she would hold a hearing Friday about whether that section can be shared with selected members of Congress.
In Monday night’s filing, Trump’s attorneys asked Cannon to extend her temporary block on all of the report through Friday’s hearing, and then allow them to join the hearing and argue in support of a permanent block on the report.
