U.S. District Judge Eileen Cannon on Monday allowed the release of Special Counsel Jack Smith's report on President Donald Trump's efforts to block the peaceful transfer of power after the 2020 election.
In his five-page ruling, Cannon denied efforts by President Trump and his two co-defendants in the Mar-a-Lago documents case to block the release of the first and second volumes of the report, saying prosecutors had little to do with the election inference report. He pointed out that he claimed there was no such thing. The trial for the two men indicted along with the president-elect is ongoing.
“Based on these representations, the court finds that there is insufficient basis to grant emergency injunctive relief with respect to Title I,” Cannon wrote.
An earlier temporary restraining order issued by Cannon kept the report secret until Tuesday, giving Trump's team room to challenge her decision.
But while Mr. Cannon ordered a Friday hearing on whether to make the Mar-a-Lago report public, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that valet Walt Nauta and property manager Carlos de Oliveira He said he would not release the report to the public given his ongoing prosecution.
The ruling is a victory for the Department of Justice, which had sought the release of a report summarizing investigations conducted in two different courts on January 6, 2021.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals similarly declined to accept an emergency motion from Trump and his co-defendants, but Cannon had previously temporarily blocked the release of the first and second volumes of the report for three days after the ruling. They had agreed that the order should be valid. From the Court of Appeals.
Garland said he plans to make the Jan. 6 report available to the public, but it will first be communicated to lawmakers.
Trump's legal team sent a letter to Garland last week alluding to the report's contents and objecting to its release.
“Volume 1 of the draft report falsely claims, without a jury decision, that President Trump and others were “engaging in unprecedented criminal activity,'' were “masterminds of a criminal conspiracy,'' and were concealing a “criminal plan.'' ” President Trump's court said. The team wrote in the letter:
The indictment filed by Mr. Smith reached that conclusion, but Mr. Trump also said the report contained information about some of the people he nominated for roles in his second administration.
Trump's critics say the report comes after Smith moved to dismiss both of Trump's criminal cases after he was re-elected, citing a Justice Department policy that prohibits prosecuting sitting presidents. We see this as an important form of accountability.
It is unclear how much of the new evidence Mr. Smith had planned to present in court will be included in the report.
However, the lawsuit will continue regarding the amount of reports related to the Mar-a-Lago investigation.
Garland had planned to share the report only with leaders of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, but Nauta and de Oliveira argued that lawmakers could leak the report.
Cannon is scheduled to consider the issue at a hearing Friday.
Updated at 1:27 p.m. ET
