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WASHINGTON (CN) — A federal judge appointed by Donald Trump ruled Tuesday that Attorney General Merrick Garland cannot release special counsel Jack Smith’s highly anticipated final report on the federal cases against President-elect Donald Trump, pending further court proceedings at the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s ruling follows a Monday letter by Trump lawyers Todd Blanche and John Lauro demanding Garland leave the report’s release to the incoming administration and warning it would “illegally interfere with the presidential transition."
The Trump appointee added that her order is not a final ruling on the merits of the emergency motion, which the 11th Circuit would address first. Her order specifically delays the report’s release, if the appellate court agrees, for three days after their final decision.
The letter is part of a larger emergency motion by Trump’s codefendants in his classified documents case in the Southern District of Florida, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, seeking an injunction from Cannon. Nauta and De Oliveira filed a similar emergency motion at the 11th Circuit Tuesday morning.
Nauta and De Oliveira asked the 11th Circuit to rule by Friday, the date Smith indicated he would submit the final report to Garland to decide whether to redact portions or release it in full.
Cannon’s order did not address potential jurisdictional questions, as the classified documents case is pending before the 11th Circuit since she dismissed it in July.
She did not bar Trump or his codefendant from sharing parts of the report. Earlier Tuesday, the Justice Department said that Trump’s team had improperly shared details from the report in Monday’s filing.
The requests upend the common practice of allowing special counsels to issue a final report detailing their findings to the public, regardless of whether the probe resulted in criminal charges or conviction — such as special counsel Robert Hur’s final report on President Joe Biden’s mishandling of classified documents.
In July, Cannon accepted that Smith was unconstitutionally appointed and therefore his case could not stand, an argument now under review at the 11th Circuit. While Smith initially planned to appeal, he withdrew from the appeal last Monday and referred the case to federal prosecutors in Florida.
In the letter, Blanche and Lauro repeat the improper appointment argument, along with a slew of others they have used throughout Trump’s legal woes to delay and dismiss his federal cases. They said Monday that releasing the report would “extend and perpetuate” Smith’s apparent violations of the Constitution. They argue that since he was improperly appointed, he “pillaged" $20 million to further his dual investigations.
Trump has nominated Blanche as his deputy attorney general, the second-highest position at the Justice Department. He would likely be closely involved in any decision about the report’s release with Trump’s attorney general pick Pam Bondi, if they are confirmed.
The duo demands Garland remove Smith — who they called an “out-of-control private citizen” — immediately or allow Bondi to handle the report.
They say releasing the report would infringe on the Supreme Court’s decision granting presidents broad immunity, as well as Trump’s presumption of innocence.
If Garland “improperly rejected” Blanche and Lauro’s demands, they request that Monday’s letter be appended to the final report upon its release.
Many of Smith’s findings have been made public over the course of the investigation as part of an immunity brief and subsequent dossier released in October, but the final report would be his last chance to outline how Trump tried to maintain his grip on power in 2020.
The fight over Smith’s report comes as Trump is simultaneously arguing to delay his criminal sentencing in New York over his 34-count conviction for falsifying business records, set for Friday.
Trump has argued that the sentencing by New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan would “threaten the institution of the presidency” just 10 days before his inauguration.
Trump’s legal team, including Blanche, told Merchan that the sentencing should be stayed less than an hour after Cannon issued her ruling.
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