Donald Trump's lawyers have failed to stop the release of Jack Smith's embarrassing final report into his election fraud case.
Newsweek sought email comment from Trump's attorney on Tuesday.
Why It Matters
The report sets out in great detail the case against Trump for allegedly trying to overturn Joe Biden's win in 2020 and comes less than a week before his inauguration.
What to Know
Under Department of Justice (DOJ) rules, a prosecutor must write a report into every attempted prosecution, successful or not.
Florida judge Aileen Cannon initially prevented the DOJ from releasing special counsel Jack Smith's report into his election fraud case against Trump.
On Monday, she allowed Attorney General Merrick Garland to release it. Cannon, a Trump appointee, has rarely gone against the president's wishes.
She had thrown out the case against Trump for allegedly hoarding presidential documents in Florida.
However, on Monday she ruled against Trump's lawyers.
She issued an order "denying President-Elect Trump's Motion to Intervene as to Volume I of Special Counsel's Final Report."
"The Court is therefore constrained to deny the present request for emergency relief, expressing no opinion on the merits of the arguments in the Motion to Intervene as to Volume I or on the United States' asserted urgency in releasing Volume I," she wrote.
Cannon, who has had a very testy relationship with Smith, may have been issuing a barb with her comment about the DOJ's "asserted urgency" in releasing the report so close to Trump's inauguration.
She is refusing to release a second Smith report into his indictment of Trump for allegedly hoarding presidential records in Florida.
Cannon is doing so as this second report could prejudice Smith's case against two of Trump's co-accused in the presidential records case.
What People Are Saying
President Elect Donald Trump wasn't happy with the report's release.
"Deranged Jack Smith was unable to successfully prosecute the Political Opponent of his 'boss,' Crooked Joe Biden, so he ends up writing yet another 'Report' based on information that the Unselect Committee of Political Hacks and Thugs ILLEGALLY DESTROYED AND DELETED, because it showed how totally innocent I was, and how completely guilty Nancy Pelosi, and others, were. Jack is a lamebrain prosecutor who was unable to get his case tried before the Election, which I won in a landslide. THE VOTERS HAVE SPOKEN!!!" Trump wrote in a post on his social media site, Truth Social.
What Happens Next
The DOJ is sending a copy of the report to Congress. However, the indictment did not hurt Trump in the 2024 election and he won every swing state. The Republican-led Senate will not seek to impeach Trump and he enters the White House on January 20 free of all federal charges.
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