Attorney General Merrick Garland To Release Jack Smith’s Jan. 6 Report, But Not Classified Documents Summary

Attorney General Merrick Garland plans to release Special Counsel Jack Smith’s final report on the 2020 election interference case against President-elect Donald Trump.

The second volume of the report, detailing Smith’s case against Trump for gathering classified documents at Mar-a-Lago in 2021, would be made available for top lawmakers to review but will be withheld from the public.

According to the Department of Justice lawyers, Garland received Smith’s report on Tuesday.

Two of Trump’s co-defendants requested the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals to defer their decision to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, so she can hold a hearing over releasing the report. Cannon temporarily blocked the release of Smith’s final report to prevent “irreparable harm” while the Eleventh Circuit considered the matter.

But the Eleventh Circuit ruled that the report could be released.

The lawyers also restated claims similar to Judge Cannon’s reason for rejecting the charges against Trump on July 15, 2024, when she agreed with their argument that Smith’s appointment was unconstitutional.

The report may contain the most detailed account of the criminal accusations against the president-elect yet. Trump’s staffers Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira argued that the report serves “a single purpose: convincing the public that everyone Smith charged is guilty of the crimes charged.” They said that releasing the report to members of Congress would be an “improper attempt” to evade the district court.

With Garland’s intentions to give Congress only the volume focusing on Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, there was “neither any need nor legal basis for an injunction in furtherance of the public interest in informing a co-equal branch and the public regarding this significant matter,” the Justice Department said Wednesday.

Article by Angie Schlager