Today in one sentence: A federal judge in Florida temporarily blocked the Justice Department from releasing special counsel Jack Smith’s report on Trump’s classified documents investigation; a New York appeals court judge denied Trump’s request to delay his Friday sentencing in the election interference case involving falsified business records, rejecting arguments that presidential immunity applies; Trump didn’t rule out using the U.S. military to seize the Panama Canal and Greenland, saying "we need them for economic security"; and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg will end the third-party fact-checking program that will impact billions of users across Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Threads.

1/ A federal judge in Florida temporarily blocked the Justice Department from releasing special counsel Jack Smith’s report on Trump’s classified documents investigation. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon justified her order “to preserve the status quo” and to prevent “irreparable harm” while the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals considers a motion from Trump’s co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, who argued that the report’s release would prejudice their cases. That filing came after Smith confirmed he’s “working to finalize” reports for Attorney General Merrick Garland outlining the results of his investigations into Trump’s handling of classified documents after he left office and his attempt to subvert the 2020 election. Garland previously said he’d release the report publicly in some form. Cannon’s injunction, however, follows a series of legal rulings that have limited Smith’s authority and dismissed charges against Trump in the case. Cannon, a Trump appointee, previously ruled Smith’s appointment unconstitutional, and the Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity further weakened the special counsel’s cases. (Washington Post / NBC News / CNN / Associated Press / Politico / New York Times / ABC News / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)

2/ A New York appeals court judge denied Trump’s request to delay his Friday sentencing in the election interference case involving falsified business records, rejecting arguments that presidential immunity applies. Trump’s lawyers argued that immunity protections for a sitting president should extend to the transition period as president-elect, but the trial judge and appellate court rejected this claim. While the trial judge suggested that Trump would likely face no jail time, he emphasized the importance of finalizing the case before Trump’s inauguration. Trump was convicted in May of falsifying business records related to hush money payments made during the 2016 election. (Associated Press / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News / Bloomberg / Axios / CNBC / CNN / NBC News)

3/ Trump didn’t rule out using the U.S. military to seize the Panama Canal and Greenland, saying “we need them for economic security.” When a reporter asked if he could assure the public that he wouldn’t use military or economic coercion to take control of the Panama Canal and Greenland, Trump replied: “No, I can’t assure you of either of those two. The Panama Canal was built for our military. I’m not going to commit to that, no […] It might be that you’ll have to do something.” Elsewhere during his hourlong news conference, Trump – again – asserted that Canada should be the 51st U.S. state, this time threatening to use “economic force” – not military power – to pressure the country to join the U.S. Trump then floated renaming the “Gulf of Mexico” to the “Gulf of America,” which he said had “a beautiful ring.” Trump also pledged to make “major pardons” for those charged in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, and said “all hell will break out in the Middle East” if Israeli hostages held by Hamas are not released by his inauguration. (New York Times / ABC News / Associated Press / Axios / Politico / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / CNN / NBC News)

4/ Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg will end the third-party fact-checking program that will impact billions of users across Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Threads. In a video and an accompanying blog post, called “More speech, fewer mistakes,” Zuckerberg said Meta will shift to a user-driven “Community Notes” system because the company’s “fact checkers have been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they’ve created.” Zuckerberg, however, acknowledged a “tradeoff” and noted that more “bad stuff” will appear – again – on the platform as a result. “We’ve reached a point where it’s just too many mistakes and too much censorship,” Zuckerberg said. “The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point toward once again prioritizing speech. So we are going to get back to our roots, focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies, and restoring free expression on our platforms.” Zuckerberg dined with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in November, and Meta later donated $1 million to support Trump’s inauguration. After the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Facebook banned Trump from Facebook, but eventually allowed him to return. (TechCrunch / New York Times / Washington Post / Axios / CNN / NBC News / NPR / ABC News / Wall Street Journal / The Verge)

Five years ago today: Day 1083: "Historic nightmare."
Six years ago today: Day 718: Prime-time.