On Monday, President-elect Donald Trump and his former co-defendants in the Florida classified papers case began an attempt to prevent the publication of special counsel Jack Smith’s final report.
In a motion filed Monday evening, the attorneys for defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira requested that U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon prevent Smith, the case’s prosecutor, from releasing his findings. The judge’s earlier decision that Smith’s appointment was unconstitutional was cited.
In order to achieve a single goal—convincing the public that everyone Smith charged is guilty of the crimes charged—the Final Report is expected to be biased and one-sided, relying almost entirely on evidence that was presented to a grand jury and that was protected by all necessary safeguards. Smith only learned of this because of his unconstitutional appointment, the four attorneys wrote.
After he left office, Trump was charged by the Justice Department in Florida with improperly handling sensitive documents. In July, Cannon dismissed the complaint, claiming that Smith’s appointment was unlawful. The case against Trump was later dismissed by an appeals court.
Cannon’s decision to drop the charges against Nauta and De Oliveira is currently being appealed by federal prosecutors.
Defense attorneys said they think the report will be released soon, so they urged Cannon to schedule a hearing and rule on their petition by Friday.
Meanwhile, Trump’s attorneys wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland, pleading with him to prevent Smith from making the findings public. In the letter, Trump’s attorneys referred to Smith as an unruly private individual who was acting illegally as a prosecutor with the intention of politically harming Trump.
You must so thwart Smith’s plan and get rid of him right away because he has suggested an illegal course of action. In accordance with the people’s stated desire, they wrote, Smith’s report should be turned over to President Trump’s next attorney general if he is not fired.
Trump’s attorneys claimed to have spent the weekend at the special counsel’s office in Washington, D.C., going over a two-volume draft copy of Smith’s report.
According to Justice Department procedures, Garland must receive a private report from the special counsel’s office, which he may decide to make public.
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