Aileen Cannon, a judge appointed by former President Trump and serving in Florida, has issued an injunction against the Justice Department, demanding that they temporarily refrain from releasing special counsel Jack Smith’s conclusive report on his investigations into the president-elect. This decision was made on Tuesday, raising eyebrows about the legal reach of her ruling.<\/p>\n
The directive followed a plea made on Monday by President-elect Donald Trump’s personal aide, Walt Nauta, and the Mar-a-Lago estate manager, Carlos De Oliveira. Both individuals are implicated in a case about the mishandling of confidential documents, a case initiated by Smith. Although Trump himself was a subject of this investigation, the charges against him were dropped following his victory in the 2024 presidential race.<\/p>\n
Despite the case currently being considered by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta and not in her jurisdiction, Cannon was urged by the attorneys for Nauta and De Oliveira to prevent the public disclosure of Smith’s report. The Justice Department is currently contesting a prior decision by Cannon to dismiss the documents case as it continues to press charges against Nauta and De Oliveira.<\/p>\n
In her ruling on Tuesday, Judge Cannon prohibited Attorney General Merrick Garland, Jack Smith, and other Justice Department officials from “releasing, sharing, or distributing” any part of Smith\u2019s final report or its drafts outside the DOJ. This order is to stay in place until the 11th Circuit delivers a verdict on the motion to block the report\u2019s release.<\/p>\n
Barbara McQuade, a law professor at the University of Michigan, expressed skepticism about Cannon’s authority over the matter during an appearance on MSNBC. “She doesn’t really have any jurisdiction here,” McQuade stated. However, she noted that “delay seems to be the strategy. If they can hold off until January 20th, then a Trump-appointed attorney general could take over and potentially quash the report entirely.”<\/p>\n
Shortly before the judge\u2019s order was issued, Trump, speaking to the media, denied knowing Judge Cannon despite being responsible for her appointment. He nonetheless lauded her as “brilliant.”<\/p>\n
Earlier that same Tuesday, Smith disclosed in a legal document that his team was in the final stages of preparing the report, which probes into Trump’s retention of classified documents and his actions concerning the 2020 presidential election. Special counsels like Smith are obligated to present a final report to the attorney general, who then decides on its disclosure to the public.<\/p>\n
Smith also indicated that he would not submit his report to Garland until 1:00 pm that day, and that the attorney general wouldn\u2019t release any findings until at least the morning of January 10, if ever. The implications of Cannon\u2019s injunction on this timeline remain uncertain.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s legal team has been vocally against the release of the report, arguing in a recent letter to Garland that making the findings public would breach the Presidential Transition Act and the doctrine of presidential immunity. The letter, which divulged that Trump’s lawyers had access to the confidential report, claimed that the document describes the president-elect as having orchestrated “an unprecedented criminal effort” and leading “criminal conspiracies” related to the 2020 election.<\/p>\n\n\n