Judge Aileen Cannon Green Lights Release Of Trump Election Interference Report

On Monday, a federal judge allowed the release of the special counsel's report concerning President-elect Trump's election interference. Judge Aileen Cannon authorized the publication of the first volume of Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigative findings. Still, they postponed the decision until Friday on the second volume, which deals with Trump's management of classified documents. Smith had halted his inquiries into Trump following the latter's successful campaign to return to the presidency in November.

Last week, Cannon had temporarily halted the release of Smith's reports after an emergency motion by Trump's co-defendants, Waltine Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, who sought to prevent the imminent release of Smith's final report. While evaluating their claims, she ordered that Smith was "temporarily enjoined" from disseminating the report or any drafts outside the Department of Justice.

However, on Monday, Cannon decided there was "insufficient basis" to maintain the injunction against releasing the report, thus denying Nauta and De Oliveira's request. 

It's standard practice for special counsels to provide a final report that outlines their investigation's findings and explains decisions on prosecution or non-prosecution. However, in Smith's situation, the decision on prosecution is irrelevant due to Trump's new status and the DOJ's policy against prosecuting a sitting president.

Attorney General Merrick Garland has previously released reports from two other special counsels during his term: John Durham, appointed by then-Attorney General Bill Barr in 2019 to investigate the origins of the Trump-Russia inquiry, and Robert Hur, appointed in 2023 to look into President Biden's handling of classified documents.