Trump special prosecutor temporarily blocked from releasing report on probe

By Andrew Goudsward

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A U.S. judge temporarily blocked Special Counsel Jack Smith from releasing a report on his investigations into President-elect Donald Trump for his mishandling of classified documents and attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, a court order showed on Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who presided over the now-dismissed case accusing Trump of illegally holding onto classified documents, directed the Justice Department not to release the report until a federal appeals court rules on a request from Trump’s two former co-defendants in the case.

Lawyers for the co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, who were charged with obstructing the documents investigation, moved late Monday to block release of the report.

Nauta and De Oliveira argued the report would improperly interfere in their case, which remains ongoing.

Trump’s lawyers separately wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland to urge him not to publish the report, arguing it would interfere with the presidential transition.

Smith led both the classified documents case against Trump and a second prosecution accusing Trump of attempting to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election. Both cases have since been dropped.

Trump, who argued the federal probe and the two other criminal investigations he faced were politically motivated attempts to block him from returning to power, said he welcomed the news.

“It was a fake case against a political opponent,” Trump told reporters at his Florida resort on Tuesday. “If they’re not allowed to issue the report, that’s the way it should be … that’s great news.”

A spokesperson for Smith’s office declined to comment on the order.

Justice Department regulations require Smith, who plans to wrap up his probe before Trump returns to office on Jan. 20, to submit a final report to Garland. Garland has previously pledged to make public all reports from special counsels during his tenure.

Trump’s lawyers said they privately viewed drafts of the report in recent days, a sign its release may have been imminent.

Prosecutors said in a court filing earlier on Tuesday that Garland, who appointed Smith, had not yet decided how to handle the portion of the report that relates to the classified documents case.

Cannon, a Trump appointee, dismissed the case against Trump and his two co-defendants in July 2024 after ruling that Smith was improperly appointed. Prosecutors are appealing the ruling as it pertains to Nauta and De Oliveira.

Cannon said her order blocking publication of the report would hold until three days after the Atlanta-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit rules on the request from Trump’s former co-defendants.

Nauta and De Oliveira have asked the appeals court to stop the Justice Department from releasing the report until it rules on the underlying issue of Smith’s appointment, a decision that may take months.