Donald Trump’s lawyers seek to block release of Jack Smith’s final reports

President-elect Donald Trump and two of his former co-defendants are seeking to block the release of special counsel Jack Smith’s final reports on the Washington, D.C. election interference case and the Florida classified documents affair.

Todd Blance and John Lauro, Mr. Trump’s lawyers, wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday and said releasing the final reports would violate the Presidential Transition Act and the doctrine of presidential immunity. They also argued that Mr. Smith was not “validly” appointed to his position and therefore could not publish a report, and that the report “violated fundamental standards regarding the presumption of innocence.”

They wrote that they were only allowed to view a two-volume draft of the report in Mr. Smith’s Washington office over the weekend.

They also said the release of the reports would be “nothing more than an anarchic political stunt, intended to politically damage President Trump and to justify the enormous sums of taxpayer money that Smith unconstitutionally spent on his case failed and rejected.

“In such circumstances, the release of the Smith Report is obviously not in the public interest – particularly in light of President Trump’s landslide election victory and the sensitive nature of the ongoing transition process,” it said. the court file.

The lawyers called for Mr. Smith to be removed from office “promptly” and said that if he did not do so, the report should be handled by Mr. Trump’s new attorney general, Pam Bondi.

Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, Mr. Trump’s former co-defendants, at the same time asked Judge Aileen Cannon – who threw out the Florida classified documents case after saying Mr. Smith was unconstitutionally appointed – to block the release of Mr. . Smith’s report.

“No report should be prepared or released, and Smith should be removed from office, including for even suggesting this course of action given his obvious political motivations and desire to illegally undermine the transition,” the filing, submitted by Trump’s lawyers, Mr. Blanche, Mr. . Lauro, Emil Bové and Gregory Singer.

They argued that the defendants “will suffer irreparable harm as civilian victims of the government’s impermissible and contumacious use of political law to include the release of the unauthorized report.”

“The final report promises to be a one-sided and biased report, relying almost exclusively on evidence presented to a grand jury and subject to all the required protections – and of which Smith only became aware following his appointment unconstitutional – in order to serve a single purpose: to convince the public that all of those accused by Smith are guilty of the crimes charged,” the lawyers wrote.

The classified documents case against Mr. Trump was dismissed in July after Judge Cannon ruled that Mr. Smith was illegally appointed by the Justice Department. Mr. Smith said he would appeal the decision to dismiss the case, but ultimately backed out of it. However, the appeal regarding the two co-accused is still ongoing.

In November, Mr. Smith moved to dismiss the 2020 election interference case in Washington, showing that he was ending the prosecution of Mr. Trump after his victory in the 2024 election.

The special prosecutor’s office is required to submit a final report to the attorney general, who can then decide whether it is made public.

Mr. Smith and his team announced they would resign before Mr. Trump takes office.

The Washington Times has contacted the Justice Department for comment.