A judge temporarily blocked on Tuesday the release of the special counsel's final report on President-elect Donald Trump's classified documents case.
US District Judge Aileen Cannon deferred the matter to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, citing the potential harm in releasing the report. This decision followed a request from Trump's former co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, to prevent the report's release. Trump's attorneys argued that, due to his unique position, he should be allowed to join the effort to block it. They also criticized Special Counsel Jack Smith's actions, calling for his removal and for the report's release to be deferred to Trump's incoming attorney general.
Judge Cannon explained her decision, stating it was "to prevent irreparable harm arising from the circumstances as described in the current record in this emergency posture, and to permit an orderly and deliberative sequence of events." The special counsel’s office assured Judge Cannon that they would not release a specific volume of the report before 10 am Friday and would provide a fuller response to the emergency motion filed by Trump's co-defendants by 7 pm Tuesday.
