Judge allows release of half of Jack Smith’s report on Trump affairs

A federal judge in Florida on Monday allowed the Justice Department to soon release part of a report by special prosecutor Jack Smith detailing decisions he made in charging President-elect Donald J. Trump with conspiracy aimed at overthrowing his mandate. defeat in the 2020 elections.

But in a five-page order, the judge, Aileen M. Cannon, ruled that prosecutors and defense attorneys should appear before her Friday to debate whether the Justice Department could disclose to members of the Congress’s role Mr. Smith’s report addresses the case she oversaw: the one in which Mr. Trump was accused of refusing to return classified documents after leaving office.

Under the ruling, the Justice Department would be free to release the election record portion of the report as early as Tuesday morning after midnight. Mr. Trump’s lawyers could still ask an appeals court or the Supreme Court to block the release of this part of Mr. Smith’s report.

Judge Cannon’s order, filed in federal district court in Fort Pierce, Fla., is the latest twist in a weeklong battle over the release of the two-volume report, which represents Mr. Smith on the two defunct criminal cases he brought against him. Mr. Trump.

In one of those cases, overseen by Judge Cannon in Florida, Mr. Trump was accused of illegally possessing a trove of state secrets after leaving office in 2021 and then conspiring with two of his aides to obstruct government efforts to recover these documents. . In the other case, filed in the federal district court in Washington, he was accused of three intersecting plots aimed at illegally maintaining his grip on power after losing the presidential race.