Justice Department can publish Jack Smith report on Trump’s election interference case, judge rules
The IndependentSign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy After a last-minute legal battle, Jack Smith’s final report on his criminal investigation into Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election is one step closer to becoming public. Last week, the Trump-appointed federal judge temporarily blocked both volumes of Smith’s report from the public, including the results of his investigation into Trump’s election subversion — a case that played out in an entirely different court in Washington, D.C. Garland had vowed to release the Mar-a-Lago report to top members of Congress while publicly releasing the volume on Trump’s election case, with only days left to spare before Trump’s inauguration on January 20, when he can stop both volumes from ever being released. In a shock decision last year, Judge Cannon dismissed the Mar-a-Lago case after agreeing with Trump’s attorneys that Smith was unconstitutionally appointed and funded. The fullest account yet of Trump’s alleged crimes in that case were presented across 165 pages last October, with a filing that details Trump’s “increasingly desperate efforts” to cling to power with “knowingly false claims of election fraud,” culminating in his failure to stop a mob of his supporters from breaking into the U.S. Capitol in January 6, 2021.