Judge Stops Release of Jack Smith’s Report on Trump Documents Case
Judge Aileen M. Cannon said prosecutors should not be allowed to share the report outside the Justice Department, adding that it contained information that had not been made public.
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Judge Aileen M. Cannon said prosecutors should not be allowed to share the report outside the Justice Department, adding that it contained information that had not been made public.
The decision by Judge Aileen M. Cannon not to issue an immediate ruling raised the possibility that President-elect Donald J. Trump would take office in the meantime and have power over the report’s release.
The Justice Department now enters a second Trump administration with less authority to pursue a president than it has had in half a century.
Judge Aileen M. Cannon, who dismissed the classified documents case, blocked a volume about that matter from being shown to Congress but allowed the release of a volume about the election case.
But the court left in place an injunction that bars the Justice Department from disclosing the report for another three days.
In a court filing, the department indicated that the report by the special counsel, Jack Smith, may not be made public before Donald J. Trump takes office, raising the prospect that the new administration will bury it.
Judge Aileen M. Cannon, a Trump appointee who dismissed the documents case in its entirety this summer, on Tuesday temporarily barred the special counsel, Jack Smith, from releasing the results of his investigation to the public.
Both the Justice Department and the judge who oversaw the case were asked to stop the public release of the report.