Judge Temporarily Blocks Special Counsel From Releasing Report

A U.S. judge temporarily blocked special counsel Jack Smith from releasing a report on his investigations into President-elect Donald Trump, a court order showed on Tuesday.

U.S. District Aileen Cannon, who presided over the now-dismissed case accusing Trump of illegally holding onto classified documents, directed the Justice Department not to release the report until a federal appeals court rules on a request from Trump's two former co-defendants in the case.

Trump was informed of Cannon's decision by a reportter during a Tuesday press conference at Mar-a-Lago.

"So if they're not allowed to issue the report, that's the way it should be," Trump said. "Because he [Smith] was thrown off the case in disgrace. Why should he be allowed to write a fake report? It'll only be a fake report. That's great news."

Lawyers for the co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, who were charged with obstructing the documents investigation, moved late Monday to block release of the report.

Nauta and De Oliveira argued the report would improperly interfere in their case, which remains ongoing.

Smith led both the classified documents case against Trump and a second prosecution accusing Trump of attempting to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election. Both cases have since been dropped.