WASHINGTON — The federal judge who oversaw the classified documents case against President-elect Donald Trump issued an order Tuesday temporarily blocking the release of special counsel Jack Smith’s report on his investigation.
The injunction lasts until three days after the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules on a pending request to block the release of the report over a separate matter involving Trump co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira.
Lawyers for Nauta and De Oliveira filed a motion Monday night asking U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to block the report, citing the judge’s previous ruling that Smith’s appointment was unconstitutional.
Cannon said she was acting “to preserve the status quo” until the higher court rules on the issue.
Her ruling holds that Attorney General Merrick “Garland, the Department of Justice, Special Counsel Smith, all of their officers, agents, and employees, and all persons acting in active concert or participation with such individuals, are TEMPORARILY ENJOINED from (a) releasing, sharing, or transmitting the Final Report or any drafts of such Report outside the Department of Justice, or (b) otherwise releasing, distributing, conveying, or sharing with anyone outside the Department of Justice any information or conclusions in the Final Report or in drafts thereof.”
She said the order will remain in effect for three days after the appeals court resolves the issue “unless the Eleventh Circuit orders otherwise.”
Nauta and De Oliveira filed a separate petition asking the 11th Circuit to block the report early Tuesday.
They contend that releasing details about their alleged efforts to obstruct justice on Trump’s behalf in the documents case in the report could jeopardize their right to a fair trial.
The court gave the Justice Department until Wednesday morning to respond.
Cannon dismissed the case against Trump and the pair last year, finding that Smith’s appointment was unlawful. Smith’s office appealed her decision, but dropped their appeal of Trump’s dismissal after his election win, citing a Justice Department legal memo holding that the DOJ can’t prosecute a sitting president.
Despite no longer being a defendant in the case, attorneys for Trump filed a motion with Cannon on Tuesday asking her to step in.
“As a former and soon-to-be President, uniquely familiar with the pernicious consequences of lawfare perpetrated by Smith, his Office, and others at DOJ, President Trump should be permitted to participate in these proceedings,” his filing said.
He asked that she “immediately order Smith and his Office not to transmit any aspect of the Report to the Attorney General before the Emergency Motion is resolved.”
In a court filing, Smith said he planned to send his two-volume report to Garland on Tuesday.
Garland “has not yet determined how to handle the report volume pertaining to this case, about which the parties were conferring at the time the defendants filed the Motion, but the Department can commit that the Attorney General will not release that volume to the public, if he does at all,” before 10 a.m. Friday, the filing said.
