CNN
—
Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report on the election destruction and January 6, 2021 investigation into Donald Trump can be released, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday, but it was put on hold for three days by a lower judge. The period will remain in place, potentially giving Trump time to question him. The Supreme Court intervenes.
President Trump and his employees indicted in Smith’s classified documents investigation have asked multiple courts to block the release of the report, which contains material related to overturning the 2020 election.
President Trump and his former co-defendants suffered a loss in Thursday’s unsigned two-sentence order from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, but the matter may not be over yet, with the latest ruling is likely to prompt further court action ahead of the The inauguration ceremony will be held on January 20th.
The Eleventh Circuit’s order asks the Justice Department to ask the appellate court to immediately lift a temporary stay put by U.S. District Judge Eileen Cannon. This will prevent the department from sharing the report or its information with anyone outside the agency. The Justice Department appealed the temporary hold late Thursday night.
“Today’s decision by the Eleventh Circuit upholds Judge Cannon’s injunction and prevents any report from being issued. Joe Biden and Merrick Garland will do the right thing and stop the political weaponization of our justice system. It’s time to put a final stop to this,” President Trump’s press secretary Stephen Chan said after the ruling.
A spokesperson for the special counsel declined to comment.
Smith, who is expected to resign before Trump takes office, submitted his completed report to the attorney general this week under the department’s special counsel rules. Its two volumes cover each of his investigations, and both investigations resulted in indictments, making it unlikely that the report would provide any significant new factual information.
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced earlier this week that he plans to release the report on January 6, subject to court approval.
He also decided not to release a report dealing with the classified documents case, citing the possibility that criminal proceedings against Trump’s former co-defendants could be reopened in the future. But Garland plans to have a select group of lawmakers review the document in private.
President Trump, whose lawyers have been allowed to review the draft, said in a court filing that it was “for the sole purpose of disrupting the presidential transition of power and undermining President Trump’s exercise of executive power.” “This is nothing more than an attempt at a new political hit with the same purpose.”
The report is being debated as the special counsel’s office has already taken some steps toward closure, but it comes after Smith faced several hurdles in the long-running investigation. That would be the last word on what turned out to be.
The election destruction case alleges that Trump and several unindicted co-conspirators hatched a multi-step plan to attack the peaceful transfer of power, culminating in the January 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters. did.
Meanwhile, the classified documents investigation accused President Trump of mishandling national defense information and obstructing a federal investigation into the whereabouts of the documents.
Mr. Trump and former co-defendants Walta Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira said that Cannon’s 2024 ruling that found Mr. Smith’s appointment unconstitutional stripped Mr. Smith of his authority to write the report, and that Mr. Garland It alleges that the issuance of the report was prevented. (Nauta and de Oliveira have maintained their innocence. The case against them was dismissed by Cannon, but the case could be reopened on appeal over the special counsel’s powers.)
The Justice Department said in previous filings that it did not intend to release the report before Friday to give Garland time to review it.
While the focus is on the current legal battle, there are other avenues by which details of the report could eventually be released to the public.
The department’s special prosecutor regulations allow the report and related information to be shared with Congress.
Federal judges in Washington, D.C., may also become involved in the case through a public relations law lawsuit in which key documents and unredacted versions of the final report came to light after special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
Or the release of the report could be challenged in court by Judge Tanya Chutkan, who oversaw other federal criminal cases against Trump related to the 2020 election.
This story has been updated with additional details.
CNN’s Paula Reid contributed to this report.
