Trump's 2020 election case: Judge clears way for special counsel's report

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 criminal cases

The Justice Department can publicly release special counsel Jack Smith's investigative report on President-elect Donald Trump's 2020 election interference case, a federal judge said on Monday in the latest ruling in a court dispute over the highly anticipated document days before Trump is set to reclaim the White House.

But a temporary injunction barring the immediate release of the report remains in effect until Tuesday, and it's unlikely US District Judge Aileen Cannon's order will be the last word on the matter. Defence 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 his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, a Democrat.

She set a hearing for Friday on whether the department can release to lawmakers a separate volume on the case that accused Trump of hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after he left the White House in 2021. The department has said it will not publicly disclose that volume as long as criminal proceedings against two of Trump's co-defendants remain pending.

Cannon dismissed the classified documents case in July, ruling that Smith's appointment was illegal. The Justice Department abandoned both cases after Trump's presidential victory 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.

Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement that it was "time for Joe Biden and Merrick Garland to do the right thing and put a final stop to the political weaponisation of our justice system".

Monday's ruling, if it stands, could open the door for the public to learn additional details in the coming days about Trump's frantic but ultimately failed effort to cling to power in the run-up to the deadly January 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol.

But it could also lead to the classified documents volume being shelved long term since the Trump administration Justice Department is seen as highly unlikely to make it public.

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's dismissal of charges.

As a compromise, the Justice Department said that it would not make that document public so long as those proceedings continue 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.

"Release of Volume II, even on a limited basis as promised by the United States, risks irreversibly and substantially impairing the legal rights of Defendants in this criminal proceeding," Cannon wrote.

"The Court is not willing to make that gamble on the basis of generalised interest by members of Congress, at least not without full briefing and a hearing on the subject," she added. "Nor has the United States presented any justification to support the suggestion that Volume II must be released to Congress now, as opposed to after a reasonable period for an expedited hearing and judicial deliberation on the subject.