This combination of images shows Special Counsel Jack Smith in Washington, DC in August 2023 and President-elect Donald Trump in Palm Beach, Florida in November 2022.

Saul Loeb/Eva Marie Uzcategui/AFP via Getty Images

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Saul Loeb/Eva Marie Uzcategui/AFP via Getty Images

Florida District Judge Aileen Cannon has paved the way for the Justice Department to release the first part of a special counsel’s investigation into President-elect Donald Trump. This concerns the investigations and charges against Trump in connection with the 2020 presidential election.

Cannon rejected a request from Trump’s former co-defendants seeking to block the release of special counsel Jack Smith’s report on the election interference case.

The DOJ is fighting in court over whether it is allowed to publicly release a final report from Smith on his cases against Trump. Such a report is a mandatory part of the special counsel’s work and could be the last chance for prosecutors to explain their decisions after dropping federal cases against Trump following his election victory. Trump was indicted for election interference in Washington, D.C., as well as for hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort and refusing to return them to the FBI.

The DOJ agreed not to publicly release volume two of its report on the classified documents case so as not to interfere with an ongoing trial against two other defendants. However, she wants to publish the first volume covering the investigations and charges against Trump in connection with the 2020 presidential election.

Last week, Cannon, a Trump appointee, temporarily blocked the DOJ from releasing the entire Jack Smith report until a federal appeals court resolves the litigation.

Trump has also argued that the special counsel was unlawfully appointed and that any public report would be legally invalid and harm his transition to the White House.

Lawyers could still appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to block the report’s release.