District Judge Aileen Cannon issued an order on Tuesday blocking the release of special counsel Jack Smith’s final report on his investigations into President-elect Donald Trump. The ruling prevents Smith and the Justice Department from proceeding with the report’s release until the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has had time to review the emergency motion filed by Trump’s co-defendants seeking to block its publication.
This decision follows a series of legal filings made on Monday and Tuesday. Trump’s attorneys have reviewed a draft of the report, which is related to federal investigations into the president-elect, according to court filings from Trump’s former co-defendants.
In the documents, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira requested that Cannon block the report’s release, claiming Smith lacked the authority to do so since Cannon had previously ruled that Smith’s appointment as special counsel was unlawful. (The 11th Circuit is currently considering an appeal of that ruling.)
Cannon, appointed by Trump during his first term, issued a brief order preventing the Justice Department from releasing the report. This order does not differentiate between the two parts of the report: one concerning the mishandling of classified documents and the other regarding the investigation into 2020 election interference. Trump’s legal team argued that both parts of the report should be withheld, citing overlaps in evidence.
The defense also submitted a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, stating that they had been allowed to review the two-volume draft report from January 3 to January 6, 2025. They requested advance notice of the report’s release to take appropriate legal action. In the filings, they criticized the draft for presenting a biased narrative that suggests the defendants committed the crimes charged against them.
Garland has informed Congress that he plans to release the report with necessary redactions, as required by Justice Department policy, which would likely involve redacting sections related to the two co-defendants due to the ongoing legal proceedings against them.
In a separate filing, Smith’s office clarified that it would not deliver the report to the attorney general before 1 p.m. ET on Tuesday, and the attorney general would not release it until at least Friday morning. The special counsel’s office emphasized that the decision to release the report rests with the attorney general, in accordance with federal regulations.
The dispute over the report’s release comes just under two weeks before Trump’s inauguration, after which his Justice Department, led by appointees from his criminal defense team, will take over the investigation. The effort to prevent the report’s release is part of Trump’s broader challenge against the special counsel’s office.
Nauta and De Oliveira argued that the release of the report would unfairly prejudice their defense and potentially revive criminal prosecution against them. They also pointed out that the protective order limiting their ability to discuss the government’s discovery materials remains in effect, making the release of the report even more unfairly prejudicial.
