Merrick Garland Only Plans To Release Half Of Jack Smith’s Final Trump Report
Key Facts
The Justice Department’s plans for the release of the final reports were made public as part of a brief in the case against Trump’s co-defendants, who had requested that a federal appeals court block Smith’s final report from being publicly released.
The final report has already been on hold pending the federal appeals court’s ruling, as Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon temporarily blocked it from being released Tuesday.
The DOJ said Wednesday that Attorney General Merrick Garland hadn’t intended to release the volume of the report covering the documents case while the prosecution against co-defendants Walter Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira is still ongoing—meaning the report will likely never be made public, as Trump’s DOJ is unlikely to release it if the prosecution ends after Trump is inaugurated.
Smith made clear Tuesday that his final report would be split into two volumes: one covering the documents case — concerning whether Trump unlawfully withheld documents and obstructed the government’s investigation into them — and another covering Trump’s allegedly unlawful efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Garland does intend to publicly release the volume covering Trump’s efforts to overturn the election, as prosecutors said Nauta and de Oliveira “have no cognizable interest in that volume of the Final Report” and there’s no “legal basis for any other interested party to seek to block [that volume’s] release.”
It’s unclear when that part of the final report could be publicly released, however: Since the entire report is at issue in the court dispute over whether it should be released, the appeals court will likely have to rule before Garland can make it public, even though it doesn’t concern Nauta and de Oliveira at all.
When Could The Final Report Be Released?
It’s unclear when Garland could issue the report on the 2020 election investigation. Cannon’s ruling blocks the final report from being publicly released until the appeals court issues a ruling on it, and says it can only be released three days after the appeals court rules. There’s no timeline yet for when the appeals court could rule on whether or not to block the final report—though it will have to rule swiftly for the final report to be released, before Trump is inaugurated Jan. 20. Once Trump is sworn into office, it would then be up to his Justice Department appointees to decide whether or not to release the report—which they’re unlikely to do, given its criticism of the president-elect.
What Does The Final Report Say About The Jan. 6 Case?
Smith has said only that the report will explain his prosecution decisions about his cases into Trump, though the president-elect’s lawyers said in filings Monday “continues” Smith’s “attacks” on Trump and includes “baseless attacks on other anticipated members of President Trump’s incoming administration.” It’s unclear if the final report will actually contain any new information, as much of Smith’s evidence has already been made public in the election case, particularly after the special counsel issued a major filing in October that laid out prosecutors’ full case against Trump. Prosecutors allege Trump spearheaded a wide-ranging plot to overturn the 2020 election and pushed false claims about election fraud despite knowing they were false. Trump and his allies made up the fraud allegations “out of whole cloth” and planned to challenge the election results even before the election took place, prosecutors allege, also claiming Trump’s closest allies did not believe the fraud claims even as they helped push them. Prosecutors also detailed Trump’s actions during the riot on Jan. 6, 2021, alleging Trump watched his supporters attack the Capitol from the White House dining room and got angry with then-Vice President Mike Pence after he refused to stop the results from being certified, allegedly telling an aide, “So what?” when he was informed Pence had to be moved to a secure location during the attack.
What Does The Final Report Say About Classified Documents Case?
Prosecutors have released less detailed information about the documents case, but have alleged Trump intentionally withheld White House documents by bringing them back to Mar-a-Lago with him and concealing them from the government when they issued a subpoena for all the classified documents in his possession. Trump allegedly enlisted his aides to help move documents so that his lawyer wouldn’t find them when he was trying to comply with the government’s subpoena, prosecutors alleged, and in their indictment against Trump showed White House materials being stored throughout Mar-a-Lago, including in its ballroom, in his bedroom and by a bathroom toilet.
Key Background
Smith’s final report has been anticipated since the special counsel dropped his two cases against Trump following the president-elect’s victory, citing the DOJ’s policy not to prosecute sitting presidents. Smith is reportedly expected to resign before Trump’s inauguration, but is required to submit a final report before he does, as the guidance for special counsels requires them to “provide the Attorney General with a confidential report” explaining their decisions. The report doesn’t necessarily have to be made public and the determination is ultimately up to the attorney general, but Garland has made such reports public in the past. Smith’s report became embroiled in controversy on Monday, as Nauta and de Oliveira asked Cannon and the appeals court to block it, claiming that releasing it publicly would hurt their prosecution. While Smith has dropped charges against Trump in the documents case, the federal government is still moving forward with its charges against Nauta and de Oliveira in the federal appeals court. Trump also sent a letter to Garland asking him not to release the final report or else leave it up to Trump’s DOJ to decide, claiming—despite the federal rules requiring the report—that it is unlawful and should not be released.
Comments
Post a Comment