Judge clears the way for release of special counsel Smith's report on Trump's Jan. 6 case

Special counsel Jack Smith speaks about an indictment of former president Donald Trump, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023, at a U.S. Department of Justice office in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department can publicly release its investigative report on President-elect Donald Trump’s 2020 election interference case, a federal judge said Monday -- 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’s 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 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 on Trump’s 2020 election interference case.

She set a hearing for Friday on whether the department can release to lawmakers the volume on Trump’s classified documents case. 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.

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’s frantic but ultimately failed effort to cling to power in the run-up to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection 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’s 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’s 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.

“All parties agree that Volume II expressly and directly concerns this criminal proceeding,” she wrote. “All 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.”

Alanna Durkin Richer And Eric Tucker, The Associated Press