U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon has ruled that the Justice Department can release Volume One that former special counsel Jack Smith issued on President-elect Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.
Cannon denied a request to extend an injunction banning the Justice Department from releasing Vol. 1, writing: “Based on these representations, the Court sees an insufficient basis to grant emergency injunctive relief as to Volume I”.
Cannon’s ruling (seen HERE) means that the Justice Department could release the portion of the Smith report that deals with Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss as soon as midnight, barring future legal action from Trump or his team. She kept in place a prohibition on releasing the portion of the report about the classified document case, which the Justice Department said it didn’t intend to release at this point. Cannon has scheduled a hearing on that matter for Jan. 17, three days before Trump’s inauguration.
The Justice Department still has a pending motion before the 11th Circuit asking to release the portion of the report about Jan. 6 immediately, but the court has yet to rule on that motion.
Smith resigned from his position on Friday as special prosecutor after wrapping up the cases and submitting his report to Attorney General Merrick Garland. Garland has told Congress he will release the volume of the report that deals with Trump’s 2020 efforts when he is legally allowed to do so. The volume of the report that deals with Trump’s handling of classified documents will not be released because two co-defendants are still facing charges.
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