By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-01-13 18:41:29 | Updated at 2025-01-14 12:28:41
18 hours ago
The US Justice Department can publicly release its investigative report on US president-elect Donald Trump’s 2020 election interference case, a federal judge said on Monday – the latest ruling in a court dispute over the highly anticipated document days before Trump is set to take office again.
But a temporary injunction barring the immediate release of the report remains in effect until Tuesday, and it is unlikely US District Judge Aileen Cannon’s order will be the last word on the matter. Defence lawyers may seek to challenge it all the way up to the Supreme Court.
Cannon had earlier temporarily blocked the department from releasing the entire report on Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigations into Trump that led to two separate criminal cases. Cannon’s latest order on Monday cleared the way for the release of the volume on Trump’s 2020 election interference case.
She set a hearing for Friday on whether the department can release to lawmakers the volume on Trump’s classified documents case. The department has said it will not publicly disclose that volume as long as criminal proceedings against two of Trump’s co-defendants remain pending.
Smith resigned his position on Friday after sending his report to Attorney General Merrick Garland, the Justice Department revealed in a footnote in a court filing over the weekend.
The ruling, if it stands, could open the door for the public to learn additional details in the coming days about Trump’s frantic but ultimately failed effort to cling to power in the run-up to the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol.
