The court order barred U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland from releasing Jack Smith’s special counsel. final report In the Donald Trump investigation that ends today, lawyers for Trump’s former accusers continue to plead with the judge who oversaw their classified documents case to block the report.
In an overnight filing that appeared to be the legal equivalent of re-sending the latest email, attorneys Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira again asked U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to extend an order blocking the release of Smith’s entire final report, including his final report. classified documents research and its election interference probe — and holding a hearing on permanently barring the release of the report.
“The government, driven by political priorities that have no place in a criminal trial, wants to forcefully arm itself in this orderly process and has repeatedly failed to comply with established rules and procedures,” the lawyers wrote.
Judge Cannon issued the order last week temporary blocking release of the full report — volume one on the January 6 case and volume two on the classified documents case — as the Justice Department prepared to release the report to the public. Garland has vowed to release and publicly release the volume of classified documents to senior members of Congress, which the DOJ verified. presentation this weekend It has nothing to do with the evidence or the indictments linking Nauta and De Oliveira, but Trump’s former accusers aren’t pushing any volume to see the light.
Arguing that Smith was unconstitutionally appointed, defense lawyers said in a late-night filing that the report was “illegally prepared” and that the two cases are “inextricably linked.” They also tried to question the DOJ’s representation over the weekend and accused the government of “political game”.
“It appears that the Government is doing everything it can to skip steps in the required process in the name of an apparent emergency,” the dossier stated.
Trump He pleaded not guilty Up to 40 criminal charges related to the handling of classified material after he left the White House in 2023, after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to turn over hundreds of documents containing classified information and took steps to thwart the government’s efforts to get him out of Mar-a. Lago estate The former president, along with Nauta and De Oliveira, declared him innocent replacing the prosecution allegedly trying to delete Mar-a-Lago surveillance footage.
Former US President Donald Trump speaks to the media after voting at a polling place at the Morton and Barbara Mandel Recreation Center on March 19, 2024 in Palm Beach, Florida.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Trump too He pleaded not guilty In 2023, to separate charges of perpetrating a “criminal scheme” to subvert democracy and overturn the results of the 2020 elections in an effort to stay in power.
The two cases they were rejected After Trump’s re-election in November, a longstanding Justice Department policy barred the president from impeachment.
Smith resigned as special prosecutor on Friday after collecting the cases and submitting his report to Garland.
