A federal judge in Florida put off making a ruling on Friday about whether the Justice Department can give members of Congress a report by the special counsel, Jack Smith, detailing his findings in the criminal case accusing President-elect Donald J. Trump of mishandling classified documents.
The decision by the judge, Aileen M. Cannon, to hold off issuing a ruling raised the possibility that any efforts to share that part of Mr. Smith’s report outside of the Justice Department would be postponed until after Mr. Trump re-enters the White House on Monday. At that point, he and his officials would have the power to keep the report from seeing the light of day.
Judge Cannon’s decision not to issue an immediate ruling came at the conclusion of a hearing in Federal District Court in Fort Pierce, Fla., where prosecutors and defense lawyers argued about the Justice Department’s plan to release the volume not to the public, but to the four leaders of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees.
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland has said that the classified documents section of the two-volume report should not be made public at the moment because an appeal in that proceeding remains active as to Mr. Trump’s two co-defendants in the case and that any release of new information could be prejudicial to them.
But Mr. Trump’s lawyers and lawyers for the co-defendants took issue with Mr. Garland’s plan, arguing that giving the volume to Congress would only encourage lawmakers to leak it or talk about it in open session. The lawyers were concerned about public discussion of the report because they claim the volume contains “false and derogatory” information that Mr. Trump’s congressional adversaries could use to undermine his transition “and his ability to govern our nation moving forward.”
Judge Cannon, who was appointed by Mr. Trump, asked the government at one point why there was “such urgency to release” the report to Congress now, adding, “I am still not hearing a satisfactory answer to that question.”