WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� The Justice Department can publicly release investigative report on President-elect Donald Trump's , a federal judge said Monday 鈥� the latest ruling in a court dispute over the highly anticipated document days before Trump is set to take office again.
But a temporary injunction barring the immediate release of the report remains in effect until Tuesday, and it's unlikely U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon鈥檚 order will be the last word on the matter. Defense lawyers may seek to challenge it all the way up to the Supreme Court.
Cannon, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, had earlier temporarily blocked the department from releasing the entire report on Smith's investigations into Trump that led to two separate criminal cases. Cannon's latest order on Monday cleared the way for the release of the volume detailing Smith's case that accused Trump, a Republican, of conspiring to overturn to Joe Biden, a Democrat.
She set a hearing for Friday on whether the department can release to lawmakers the volume on the case after he left the White House in 2021. The department has said that volume as long as criminal proceedings against two of Trump鈥檚 co-defendants remain pending.
Cannon dismissed the classified documents case in July, ruling that Smith's appointment was illegal. And the Justice Department abandoned both cases after in November, citing department policy that prohibits the federal prosecutions of sitting presidents.
Smith resigned his position on Friday after transmitting his report to Attorney General Merrick Garland, the Justice Department revealed in a footnote in a court filing over the weekend.
The ruling, if it stands, could open the door for the public to learn additional details in the coming days about Trump鈥檚 frantic but ultimately failed effort to cling to power in the run-up to at the Capitol.
But even as Cannon permitted the release of the volume on election interference, she halted the Justice Department from immediately sharing with congressional officials a separate volume related to Trump鈥檚 hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
Lawyers for the Republican president elect's two co-defendants, Trump valet Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira, had argued that the release of the report would prejudice them given that criminal proceedings remain ongoing against them in the form of a Justice Department appeal of Cannon鈥檚 dismissal of charges.
As a compromise, the Justice Department said that it would not make that document public but would instead share it with select congressional officials for their private review. But Cannon halted those plans and instead scheduled a hearing for Friday afternoon.
鈥淎ll parties agree that Volume II expressly and directly concerns this criminal proceeding," she wrote. 鈥淎ll parties also appear to agree that public release of Volume II would be inconsistent with the fair trial rights of Defendants Nauta and De Oliveira and with Department of Justice Policy governing the release of information during the pendency of criminal proceedings.鈥�
Alanna Durkin Richer And Eric Tucker, The Associated Press
