Garland intends to release portion of Jack Smith's report related to Jan. 6 probe

Posted By: Staff
January 8, 2025 @ 10:57 am
ABC National

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(WASHINGTON) — U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland intends to publicly release the portion of special counsel Jack Smith’s final report related to his federal election interference case against Donald Trump, according to a court filing Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who dismissed Trump’s classified documents case, on Tuesday temporarily blocked the release of Smith’s final report in order to prevent “irreparable harm,” while the matter is considered by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Prosecutors in Wednesday’s filing argued that Garland has the “inherent” authority to release the report, and they asked the Eleventh Circuit to vacate Judge Aileen’s Cannon’s order and deny the request from Trump’s former co-defendants Walt Nauta and staffer Carlos De Oliveira to block the release of the report.

While defense attorneys had sought to block the release of the Volume One of the report related to the classified documents case — and not Volume Two, which covers Trump’s election interference case — Judge Cannon’s order referred only to the “final report,” and not the two volumes within, suggesting that the entire report was blocked from release.

Prosecutors, in Wednesday’s filing, said, “The Attorney General intends to release Volume One to Congress and the public consistent with 28 C.F.R. § 600.9(c) and in furtherance of the public interest in informing a co-equal branch and the public regarding this significant matter.”

Garland does not intend to publicly release the report related to the classified documents case at this point, according to the filing, though the volume will be available to the ranking members and chairs of the House and Senate Judiciary committees.

Trump pleaded not guilty in June 2023 to 37 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials, after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to return hundreds of documents containing classified information ranging from U.S. nuclear secrets to the nation’s defense capabilities, and took steps to thwart the government’s efforts to get the documents back.

The former president, along with longtime aide Nauta and staffer De Oliveira, also pleaded not guilty in a superseding indictment to allegedly attempting to delete surveillance footage at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.

Smith has been winding down his cases against the president-elect due to a longstanding Department of Justice policy prohibiting the prosecution of a sitting president.