DOJ Seeks to Release Part of Trump Special Counsel Report
(Bloomberg) -- The US Department of Justice asked a federal appeals court to deny an effort by President-elect Donald Trump and his associates to stop the public release of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s final report.
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Government lawyers told the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals that Smith has already submitted his final report to Attorney General Merrick Garland and that Garland plans to only release the volume on the criminal probe into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
The department said that Garland, with Smith’s recommendation, had decided not to release the volume about the separate criminal investigation into the mishandling of classified documents and obstruction of justice allegedly carried out by Trump and two of his associates, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira.
An emergency request made by Nauta and De Oliveira to prevent public release of any part of the final report should therefore be denied, Justice Department lawyers told the appeals court. Garland would only make that volume public once the pending criminal case is over, they said.
The legal battle over release of the report emerged this week when Trump and his two associates moved to suppress release of any details in the report before Trump is sworn in as president on Jan. 20. After that date, Trump’s administration could prevent the details from ever becoming public.
Cannon’s Order
As for the volume regarding election allegations, the department argued that Nauta and De Oliveira had no grounds to ask a court to stop that from being released, since they hadn’t been charged in that case.
Government lawyers asked the appeals court to lift a temporary order barring release of the report issued by US District Judge Aileen Cannon on Tuesday and to “make clear” that Garland could release the first volume of the report and share the second part with senior members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees as long as they agreed to keep it secret.
Government lawyers argued that “limited disclosure” of the classified documents part of the report to several members of Congress is in the public interest while still “safeguarding defendants’ interests.”
Lawyers for Nauta and De Oliveira told the appeals court in a filing late Wednesday that the government’s proposal should be rejected and the matter should be sent back to Cannon for hearings. They said they doubted that lawmakers could keep the contents secret regarding the documents case.
“There is no way to restrain members of Congress from disclosing their opinions regarding the report, or from disclosing the contents thereof,” according to the filing.
‘Middle Ground’
“There are significant problems with the government’s proposed ‘middle ground,’ worthy of the district court’s consideration at a hearing.”
The lawyers asked the appeals court to prevent the Justice Department from releasing any part of the final report, including the first volume about the election interference case. They said they haven’t reviewed the first volume to determine if the contents are prejudicial toward Nauta and De Oliveira.
Trump isn’t officially part of the appeals court fight since Smith dropped his pursuit of charges against the president-elect, but his lawyers separately wrote to Garland opposing release of the full report and that letter was attached to his former co-defendants’ court papers. He is also seeking to intervene in the lower court case before Cannon.
Cannon previously dismissed the documents case against Trump, Nauta and De Oliveira on grounds that Smith was illegally appointed. However, the Justice Department has appealed the dismissal, saying it still wants to prosecute Nauta and De Oliveira.
Smith was required by law to submit a final report on his probes to Garland, who then has the discretion to publicly release all or parts of the report.
(Updates with filing from Trump associates starting.)
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