A federal judge ruled Monday that the Justice Department may release a report by former special counsel Jack Smith detailing his election interference case against President-elect Donald Trump.
South Florida US District Judge Aileen Cannon in a signed order denied a request by two of Trump’s former co-defendants seeking to block the report, clearing the way for its release as soon as midnight Tuesday.
The co-defendants, presidential valet Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago employee Carlos De Oliveira, are accused of conspiring with the former president to conceal sensitive national security files at the Palm Beach, Fla, resort.
Cannon also ruled that a hearing should be held Jan. 17 to determine whether the portion of the report covering that case will see the light of day, given its “contested factual and legal issues.”
The 2020 election case, however, has no bearing on the indictment against Nauta and De Oliveira, the judge noted.
“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,” Cannon wrote.
The 45th president and 47th president-elect was charged with four counts in August 2023 after allegedly knowingly spreading “false” claims of election fraud following his defeat by Joe Biden.
In June 2023, Trump was slapped with 37 counts — including conspiracy to obstruct justice — for allegedly hoarding classified files at his Mar-a-Lago estate after leaving office.
Smith, who resigned from the DOJ on Friday, later alleged in a revised indictment that Trump, 78, ordered De Oliveira to wipe security camera footage of some of the documents being moved around the resort.
Trump’s legal team could still appeal the ruling to the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which declined to block Attorney General Merrick Garland from releasing the final report last week.
Garland, who appointed Smith, decided not to publicly release the portion focused on the classified documents while legal proceedings against Trump’s two former co-defendants remain ongoing.
Smith moved to dismiss all federal charges against Trump following the 2024 election, citing long-standing precedent that the Department of Justice can not bring criminal cases against a sitting president.
The feds had never brought a case against a former president before the twin cases Smith pursued against Trump.
The DOJ has requested that a copy of the full report, which Smith sent to Garland Jan. 7, be made available to the Republican and Democratic leaders on the House and Senate Judiciary Committees.
Trump lawyers repping Nauta and De Oliveira responded to that suggestion by saying the report’s contents could later be leaked improperly to the press, a contention with which Cannon agreed.
“The court is not willing to make that gamble on the basis of generalized interest by members of Congress, at least not without full briefing and a hearing on the subject,” she wrote in her five-page ruling.
Cannon had previously dismissed Smith’s documents case against Trump this past July, ruling that the special counsel had been unconstitutionally appointed without a vote of Congress.
Trump’s lawyers have said in previous court filings they believe the Smith report could damage the incoming president’s transition efforts.
“It is time for Joe Biden and Merrick Garland to do the right thing and put a final stop to the political weaponization of our justice system,” said Trump spokesman Steven Cheung. “The American People elected President Trump with a historic and overwhelming mandate, and we look forward to uniting our country in the new administration as President Trump makes America great again.”
Reps for Smith’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
