The DOJ needs to release Smith’s final report on the 2024 midterm election: a case against the mishandling of classified documents by the president

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

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

But special counsels are also obligated to file a report on their actions with the attorney general when they finish their work. Most of them will be made public by the current attorney general.

The special counsel was illegally appointed and Trump has argued that the report would be invalid and hurt his transition to the presidency.

He publicly attacked Smith, calling him a mean, nasty guy, and praising Cannon’s decision to throw out the documents case.

“DOJ must release its report on Trump’s mishandling 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 essential.”

The New York state appeals court denied the request from Trump’s legal team for a delay in his sentence, which will be on Friday, just 10 days before his inauguration.

A state jury convicted Trump for 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels. The president-elect’s lawyers were trying to delay or scrap the case, arguing that he was immune from prosecution.

Comments on the Report of the Second DOJ Investigation into the Electoral Interference Case” by the Eleventh Circuit Circuit Judge Robertson-Walker

But the DOJ disagreed with that action, saying there was no need for the court to intervene, and also protesting the attempt to block the report’s first volume, on the election interference case.

The “limited disclosure” to certain lawmakers “will further the public interest in keeping congressional leadership apprised of a significant matter within the Department while safeguarding defendants’ interests.”

The Attorney General decided to keep the second volume under wraps because of possible prejudice to the defendants, and he will not make a public release until criminal proceedings are over.