A US federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked the public release of special counsel Jack Smith’s report on investigations into Donald Trump as an appeal court weighs a challenge to the disclosure of a much-anticipated document just days before the president-elect reclaims office.
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The ruling from US District Judge Aileen Cannon may represent a short-lived victory for Trump but it’s nonetheless the latest instance of the Trump-appointed jurist taking action in the Republican’s favour.
The halt came in response to an emergency request Monday night by defence lawyers to block the release of a report that they said would be one-sided and prejudicial. Smith’s team is expected to respond later on Tuesday.
Trump responded to Cannon’s order by complaining anew about Smith’s investigation and saying: “It was a fake case against a political opponent.”
It was not clear what the US Justice Department, which has its own guidelines governing special counsels, intended to do following Cannon’s order, which barred the release of the report until three days after the matter is resolved by the Atlanta -based 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals.
The two-volume report is expected to describe charging decisions made in separate investigations by Smith into Trump’s hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate and his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the run-up to the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol.
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