Judge Cannon OKs Release of Special Counsel’s Report on Trump and Election Subversion

CNN
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Judge Aileen Cannon said Monday she would do not block the release of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report on his investigation into Donald Trump and efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

However, Cannon scheduled a hearing later this week on Attorney General Merrick Garland’s plan to share with some lawmakers the portion of Smith’s report dealing with the investigation of classified documents. Meanwhile, she continues to prevent the department from disclosing that aspect of the report to anyone outside the agency.

Trump late Monday asked the judge to reconsider her order that cleared the way for the release of the portion dealing with the 2020 election investigation, arguing that it should remain on hold so he could make his arguments to block the entire report’s release at the Friday hearing.

Cannon rebuffed the Trump team’s last-minute attempt to delay the Justice Department’s release of the report’s election-turnover volume, leaving an earlier hold on it to rescind at midnight.

The recusal by the Trump-appointed judge marked the latest twist in a court battle that has ramped up the Justice Department’s preparations to wind down its investigations into Trump before he is sworn into office next week, while bringing the transparency that Congress and the public have in relation to those, at risk. probes.

The department has historically released the final reports on special counsel investigations of presidents, even while those presidents were still in the White House. But as part of a relentless legal assault on Smith, Trump and his allies have delayed the January 6 release of the report’s volume, which is not expected to break any new factual ground, and have halted even limited release of the classifieds report . document examination.

Trump has tapped several members of his personal defense teams for roles in his incoming administration.

Cannon, according to Monday’s order, continues to halt the department’s release of the report’s troves of classified documents because she is “unwilling to make that gamble based on the generalized interest of members of Congress, at least not without full briefing and a hearing on the subject.”

Garland had planned to allow the Republicans and Democrats who lead the House and Senate Judiciary Committees to review the report in private on the condition that they not disclose information from it.

Garland has said he will publicly release the special counsel’s report on Trump and the 2020 election before Trump takes office next Monday. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The previous order Cannon issued to block the release of both volumes was set to expire at midnight on Tuesday, allowing the department to release the 2020 election case volume thereafter.

The 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals had already rejected the Trump team’s earlier request to block the report’s release.

After Cannon’s initial order, Trump said on social media that Smith was “illegitimately involved in this political persecution and all the hundreds of millions of dollars spent by our hapless government were simply wasted!”

In the election tampering case, Smith alleged that Trump and several unindicted co-conspirators undertook a multi-step scheme to attack the peaceful transfer of power, culminating in the January 2021 attack by Trump supporters on the US Capitol. The case was hampered by a Supreme Court ruling last summer and was ultimately dropped after election day.

In the Mar-a-Lago documents case, Trump was accused of mishandling national defense information he brought with him from his first stint in the White House. He was also charged with obstructing the federal investigation into the whereabouts of the documents, as were his two employees, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira.

The defense attorneys argued that Cannon’s decision last summer, finding Smith unconstitutionally appointed, prevented Garland from releasing the report to both special counsel investigations. Because the appointments decision is currently being appealed, raising the possibility that the prosecution could be revived, Trump staffers also argue that releasing the report could harm them as defendants. Trump was dismissed from the case after his re-election.

This story has been updated with further developments.