Judge Allows Release of Report on Trump Election Interference Case
MIAMI — A federal judge ruled Monday the Justice Department can release its investigative report into accusations that President-elect Donald Trump violated federal law by interfering with the 2020 presidential election.
Election interference was one of two allegations in the report prepared by special prosecutor Jack Smith.
The other one is expected to reveal further evidence Trump consciously mishandled highly classified government documents.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland planned to release the report last week. His plan was halted by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon.
Last week, she issued a temporary restraining order that forbade the Justice Department from releasing any part of the report. The order expires Monday.
Cannon said the portion of the report on mishandled classified documents could not be released while two of Trump’s co-defendants still are awaiting trial. She said the public disclosure could interfere with Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira’s rights to a fair trial.
Nauta was Trump’s valet at his Mar-a-Lago estate while De Oliveira was the property manager. They are accused of helping to hoard classified documents at Trump’s Palm Beach, Florida, home and lying to investigators about how they were concealed from the FBI.
Justice Department attorneys filed an emergency appeal of the judge’s order on Friday. The Atlanta, Georgia-based 11th Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case back to Cannon for a revised ruling.
The Justice Department said evidence intended for criminal prosecution of the president-elect involved the people’s right to know.
Smith, who oversaw the planned prosecution of Trump and his co-defendants, resigned on Friday amid threats by Trump to fire and prosecute him after he is inaugurated. Delivery of the report to the attorney general was his last act on the job.
In the judge’s revised order Monday, she raised no objections to release of evidence showing Trump interfered with the 2020 presidential election that gave the victory to Joe Biden.
She scheduled a separate hearing for Friday on whether the information on the classified documents can be released, if only to the House and Senate Judiciary committees that have investigated Trump.
A first draft of the report indicates Trump incited the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol and sought to block Congress from certifying Biden’s victory. Preliminary media reports indicate the second draft is likely to provide further evidence of Trump’s alleged wrongdoing.
The Justice Department dropped criminal charges against Trump when he won the election in November. He is scheduled to be sworn into office on Monday, Jan. 20.
Trump’s lawyers argued the entire Smith report should not be released because the attorney general did not follow proper procedures in appointing him as special prosecutor, meaning he lacked authority as a government official.
They also said a public disclosure would violate presidential immunity and federal law requiring a peaceful transition of power.
They won only partial support from the judge in her order Monday.
“All parties agree that Volume II expressly and directly concerns this criminal proceeding,” Cannon wrote. “All parties also appear to agree that public release of Volume II would be inconsistent with the fair trial rights of defendants Nauta and De Oliveira and with Department of Justice policy governing the release of information during the pendency of criminal proceedings.”
Trump’s lawyers still have last-minute options for appeals, possibly leading to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The case is U.S. v. Nauta et al. in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.
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