US appeals court allows DoJ to release Jack Smith's report on Trump's election interference case

US President-elect Donald Trump received yet another legal blow on Thursday after a federal appeals court ruled that the Justice Department can release the report on Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election results. The report was drawn out by Special Counsel Jack Smith.

While the DoJ will be allowed the share the report, the appellate court kept the initial three-day delay order in place to allow further appeals from Trump’s team. The president-elect now has the option to ask the US Supreme Court to block the release of the report written by Smith. While responding to the latest ruling a spokesperson for Trump did not say whether the president-elect would appeal Thursday’s ruling.

He instead decided to slam Smith in a statement. “It is time for Joe Biden and Merrick Garland to do the right thing and put a final stop to the political weaponization of our Justice system," Trump’s spokesperson Steven Cheung further said in the statement.

Trump faces two major legal blows

The appeal court’s ruling came just hours after Trump dealt with another legal blow when the US Supreme Court voted 5-4 to clear the way for sentencing in his New York hush money case to move forward Friday. The US President-elect was indicted in 2023 and again in 2024 on four counts.

He was accused of overturning the 2020 election results, which was followed by the devastating Capitol riots on January 6 2021. The case was eventually dismissed following his election because of a long-standing Justice Department policy that a sitting president cannot be prosecuted. Meanwhile, Trump has promised to pardon an unspecified number of Jan. 6 defendants once he takes office again, who had pleaded not guilty when the case came to the court.

In a letter to Congress on Wednesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland said that he intends to release the election interference-related volume of Smith’s report publicly if US District Judge Aileen Cannon’s order blocking the release of the report was overruled. The appeals court kept Canon’s order intact, requiring a brief delay before the release.

With inputs from agencies.