() A federal judge in Florida on Tuesday temporarily blocked special counsel Jack Smith from releasing a final report on his investigation into President-elect Donald Trump.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon ordered the temporary block on the report to “preserve the status quo” in the case and “to prevent irreparable harm” after a request from defendants in the classified documents case against Trump.
The injunction will remain in place 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.
Nauta and De Oliveira asked the 11th Circuit to block the report early Tuesday, noting that release of Smith’s report was “imminent.”
In July, Cannon dismissed the documents case after defense attorneys argued Smith’s appointment was unconstitutional because the U.S. Senate did not confirm him. Smith appealed that decision to the 11th Circuit, but he has since made clear he plans to drop both federal cases against Trump before Trump takes office on Jan. 20.
Smith said in a separate motion that his office “is working to finalize a two-volume confidential report to Attorney General explaining the Special Counsel’s prosecution decisions.”
Smith said it would be up to Attorney General Merrick Garland to decide “whether any portion of the report should be released to the public.”
Cannon said the injunction will remain in effect for three days after the appeals court resolves the issue “unless the Eleventh Circuit orders otherwise.”
Trump and his co-defendants want to keep Smith’s report from becoming public.
“The Final Report promises to be a one-sided, slanted report, relying nearly exclusively on evidence presented to a grand jury and subject to all requisite protections—and which is known to Smith only as a result of his unconstitutional appointment—in order to serve a singular purpose: convincing the public that everyone Smith charged is guilty of the crimes charged,” defense attorneys wrote.
Before Cannon tossed the case, Trump had pleaded not guilty to 40 felony counts that alleged he kept sensitive military documents, shared them with people who didn’t have security clearances, and tried to dodge the government’s attempts to get them back.