Washington: A federal judge has cleared the way for the U.S. Justice Department to release a portion of former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report on President-elect Donald Trump’s 2020 election subversion case. The ruling comes after U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, appointed by Trump at the end of his first term, previously blocked the full report’s release.
Judge Cannon, however, declined the Justice Department’s request to allow congressional leaders to review the second part of Smith’s report, which pertains to Trump’s retention of classified documents. She has scheduled an emergency hearing on Friday to consider arguments on this matter.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing in both cases. Attorney General Merrick Garland previously expressed his intention to publicly release the first part of Smith’s report related to Trump’s 2020 election subversion. However, he decided against releasing the section concerning the classified documents case due to ongoing criminal proceedings involving Trump’s associates, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira.
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Smith, a former war crimes prosecutor, formally resigned as special counsel on January 10. He led two of the four criminal cases Trump faced after leaving office. However, these cases encountered setbacks when Cannon dismissed the classified documents case, and the U.S. Supreme Court—whose justices include three appointed by Trump—ruled that former presidents enjoy sweeping immunity from prosecution for official acts.
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Neither of these cases went to trial, and the Justice Department has since dropped the cases against Trump, citing a long-standing policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
