Trump seeks to stop Smith releasing final report
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Combination images of President-elect Trump (left) and special counsel Jack Smith. Photo: Saul Loeb and Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
President-elect Trump is seeking to stop special counsel Jack Smith from releasing a final report on the Republican leader's two dismissed federal criminal cases, per a letter included in court filings on Monday night.
The big picture: Monday's letter from Trump's attorneys to Attorney General Merrick Garland was included in filings from his former co-defendants in his dismissed classified documents case, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira.
The latest: Smith responded in a court filing Tuesday that it will be up to Garland to decide whether any part of the report will be released to the public.
- While Garland has not yet reached a decision, if he does choose to release any part of the report pertaining to the classified documents case, he won't do so before Jan. 10, Smith wrote.
- Smith added that he wouldn't submit his report to Garland until later Tuesday and would file a response to the defendants' motion Tuesday evening.
- Smith's office declined to comment regarding the matter.
Driving the news: Both Trump's attorneys and lawyers for Nauta and De Oliveira wrote in the Monday letter that they reviewed a two-volume draft report in a conference room at Smith's office in Washington, D.C., from Friday to Monday.
- Attorneys for Nauta and De Oliveira said in the filings submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida that the timeframe "reflects that public release is imminent."
- They noted that prosecutors are appealing the dismissal of charges against Nauta and De Oliveira in a federal appeals court in Atlanta.
- There remained "the threat of future criminal proceedings" that they argued would "be irreversibly and irredeemably prejudiced" by the release of a report from Smith, the pair's attorneys wrote.
The intrigue: Trump's lawyers said in their letter to Garland, "Equally problematic and inappropriate are the draft's baseless attacks on other anticipated members of President Trump's incoming administration, which are an obvious effort to interfere with upcoming confirmation hearings."
What we're watching: Trump's lawyers can't make Garland block the report's release, but they argue in their letter to Garland "because Smith has proposed an unlawful course of action, you must countermand his plan and remove him promptly."
- They added: "If Smith is not removed, then the handling of his report should be deferred to President Trump's incoming attorney general, consistent with the expressed will of the People."
- It's not clear if U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon has the authority to direct the attorney general on the matter.
- Representatives for Garland and Smith did not immediately respond to Axios' requests for comment in the evening.
Zoom out: Smith moved to wind down his two federal criminal cases against Trump in the wake of the president-elect's election win in November.
- A judge that month granted Smith's request to drop all charges against Trump in the case alleging that he tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
- Smith also asked a federal court in Florida in November to pause his appeal related to Cannon's dismissal of the classified documents case.
Go deeper: Trump pushes to halt New York hush money sentencing
Editor's note: This article has been updated with Smith's office declining to comment.
