CNN
—
Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday provided Congress with Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report on his investigation into Donald Trump and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, according to a source familiar with the matter, after a court order expired blocking his release at midnight.
CNN obtained a copy of the more than 130-page report. This will be the special counsel’s final official word on his investigation into the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol and actions taken by Trump and his associates before that date to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power.
Smith brought four charges against Trump during the 2020 election investigation. But the case has had setbacks, culminating in the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity last summer, which set the bar high to prosecute a former president for his conduct in office. The special prosecutor dropped charges against Trump altogether after voters decided in November to send him back to the White House.
The Jan. 6 transmission of Smith’s findings came after the president-elect and his allies were unable to stop the department from releasing them. Their legal maneuvering, however, has slowed its release as the clock ticks toward the Jan. 20 inauguration, and has also upended the department’s plans to release volume two of the report, which covers the investigation into classified documents.
Garland does not intend to make this part of the report public, but he had planned to allow a very small group of lawmakers to view it behind closed doors. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, however, extended an order that prevents him from sharing the volume with anyone outside the department. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for later this week.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
CNN’s Evan Perez contributed to this report.
