The release of a final report by special counsel Jack Smith that also handles the election meddling case was attempted to be blocked Monday by President-elect Donald Trump and his erstwhile co-defendants in the Florida classified papers case.
Trump’s two lawsuits have been dropped.
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.
Separately, Nauta and De Oliveira requested that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit prevent the publication of Smith’s findings.
According to a document released by Trump’s team on Tuesday, the special counsel’s office claims that the president-elect’s attorneys were aware that Smith was writing a secret report since December 11. The report’s two volumes, one on the election interference case and one on the secret documents case, were also mentioned in the submission.
“The Justice Department has determined that it probably cannot release the classified documents portion of Smith’s special counsel report due to a local federal rule in the southern district of Florida that prohibits the release of information about pending cases,” a senior law enforcement official told NBC News. The regulation was brought up in the motion that Trump’s co-defendants submitted.
Defense attorneys, who feel the report’s release is imminent, urged Cannon on Monday to convene a hearing and rule on their move to prevent the report’s release 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.
Over the weekend, Trump’s attorneys reportedly went over a two-volume draft copy of Smith’s report in the special counsel’s office in Washington, D.C.
Smith responded to the emergency motion by stating that his office is now working on “a two-volume confidential report to the Attorney General explaining the Special Counsel’s prosecution decisions.” “Garland will determine whether any part is made public,” he said, adding that one volume “pertains to this case.”
According to Smith, his office will not send that volume to Garland before Tuesday at 1 p.m. ET. He further stated that Garland “has not yet determined how to handle the report volume pertaining to this case, about which the parties were conferring at the time the defendants filed the Motion, but the Department can commit that the Attorney General will not release that volume to the public, if he does at all,” prior to 10 a.m. on Friday.
According to NBC News, Smith and his group intend to step down prior to Trump’s inauguration on January 20.
After he left office, Trump was charged by the Justice Department in Florida with improperly handling sensitive documents. In July, Cannon threw out the lawsuit, claiming that Smith’s appointment was unlawful. Trump entered a not guilty plea.
Smith challenged the dismissal, but because of the Justice Department’s long-standing policy of not prosecuting sitting presidents, the case was turned upside down by Trump’s election in November. Later, at Smith’s request, an appeals court decided to dismiss the lawsuit against Trump.
After indicting Trump in 2023 for his attempts to rig the 2020 presidential election, Smith was also compelled to close the election meddling case against him. At Smith’s request, a court in November also agreed to dismiss the case.
Cannon’s decision to drop the charges against Nauta and De Oliveira is currently being appealed by federal prosecutors.
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