U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon on Tuesday blocked the release of a special counsel’s final report into President-elect Donald Trump, pending a decision by an appeals court.
The order bars special counsel Jack Smith and the Department of Justice (DOJ) from releasing the report until the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reviews a motion submitted by Trump’s co-defendants.
“Pending resolution of the Emergency Motion filed in the Eleventh Circuit … Attorney General Garland, the Department of Justice, Special Counsel Smith, all of their officers, agents, and employees, and all persons acting in active concert or participation with such individuals are temporarily enjoined” from releasing or transmitting the final report, her order stated.
This week, Trump co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira asked Cannon to prevent the release of Smith’s report in the classified documents case, which accused Trump of illegally retaining sensitive materials after leaving the office and also accused Nauta and De Oliveira of obstruction-related crimes. Trump and the two men have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The release of Smith’s report, the pair argued to Cannon, “would directly infringe on Nauta’s and De Oliveira’s Fifth Amendment due process rights, taking on the status of a public form of an invalid new indictment, replete with unfairly prejudicial assertions of alleged offenses going well beyond any assertions in the indictment and other public filings.”
This is a breaking story, and more details will be added soon.
From The Epoch Times