Special Counsel Jack Smith arrives to comment on a 2023 indictment of Trump in Washington, DC

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Hide caption

Toggle label

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Florida Judge Aileen Cannon on Tuesday temporarily blocked the Justice Department from releasing a final report by special counsel Jack Smith, marking the latest setback for the federal criminal charges against Donald Trump.

Prosecutors dropped two criminal cases against Trump after he won the 2024 election, and Smith’s final report could be the last chance for prosecutors to explain their decisions.

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. Smith dropped the cases after the November election, following a longstanding Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president.

But Special prosecutors are also required to file a report on their actions with the Attorney General upon completion of their work. Current Attorney General Merrick Garland has pledged to release most of these reports.

Smith was scheduled to submit his report to Garland on Tuesday, with the goal of making it available to the public this week.

But Cannon — who was appointed to the bench by Trump and had previously dismissed the documents case — ordered the DOJ not to release Jack Smith’s final report until a federal appeals court resolves the litigation.

Cannon had dismissed the prosecution of Trump and two co-defendants, longtime advisers Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, on the grounds that Smith had been appointed in an unconstitutional manner. After Trump won the 2024 election, the Justice Department withdrew him from his appeal. However, the appeal process for the other two defendants continued as they expressed concerns that they would be disadvantaged if Smith’s final report was made public while they were still facing trial.

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.

At a news conference Tuesday, he personally attacked Smith, calling him “a mean, nasty guy” and praising Cannon’s decision to dismiss the documents case.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit is expected to rule on the emergency motion to block release of the report.

Rep. Gerald Connolly of Virginia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, criticized Cannon’s decision on Tuesday.

“The DOJ must release its report on Trump’s misuse of classified documents by January 20 so that the American people can understand the full extent of the president-elect’s unlawful possession of hundreds of the government’s most sensitive documents,” he said in a statement. “The public’s right to know is paramount.”

Appeal against verdict fails

However, another case is underway against the elected president: the only one of his many criminal cases that is going to trial.

A New York state appeals court on Tuesday rejected Trump’s legal team’s request to postpone his sentencing as part of his hush-money sentencing, scheduled for Friday, just 10 days before his inauguration.

A state jury convicted Trump of 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Trump’s legal team had sought to delay or drop the entire case on the grounds that the president-elect was immune from prosecution.

New York Judge Juan Merchan had previously postponed sentencing several times, but recently said Trump’s lawyers had failed to prove that the president-elect was immune from the charges.