An American court, on Monday, granted the U.S. Justice Department permission to release part of the report written by special counsel Jack Smith regarding charges against President-elect Donald Trump in the alleged attempt to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election.  

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon had temporarily barred the Justice Department from releasing Mr Smith’s two-part report on Mr Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election and on withholding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after he left the White House.  

In her latest ruling on Monday, Ms Cannon gave the go-ahead for the Justice Department to release half of the report, which pertains to the election case, as early as Tuesday morning. However, the ruling did not cover the release of the part dealing with the classified documents case.  

Ms Cannon ruled that both prosecutors and defense lawyers would have to appear before her in court on Friday to argue whether the Justice Department could release to members of Congress the part of Mr. Smith’s report dealing with the case she oversaw, *The New York Times* reported.  

Lawyers for Mr Trump’s co-defendants in the classified documents case, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, are arguing that it is unsafe to release the second part of the report to lawmakers over fears that the contents of the documents might be leaked.  

It is unclear whether Mr Trump will approach the appeal court to weigh in on the latest ruling before Ms Cannon’s earlier injunction expires at midnight. The president-elect can fight the release all the way to the Supreme Court.