DOJ Plans to Release Jack Smith's Report on Trump Election Case

With less than two weeks until U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, the Department of Justice said Wednesday that outgoing Attorney General Merrick Garland will make public the portion of Special Counsel Jack Smith's report that deals with the Republican's attempt to circumvent his 2020 election loss—an effort that culminated in the violent storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

The full report that Smith sent Garland on Tuesday is in two parts—one for each federal case that Smith took over in 2022 but later dropped due to Trump's November win. Volume one is about election subversion, and volume two is about the ex-president's alleged mishandling of classified material, which led to a raid of Mar-a-Lago, his Florida residence.

"The attorney general intends to release volume one to Congress and the public consistent with 28 C.F.R. § 600.9(c) and in furtherance of the public interest in informing a co-equal branch and the public regarding this significant matter," the DOJ explained in a Wednesday filing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.

The filing relates to an attempt by Trump's co-defendants in the second case—valet Waltine Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira—to block the release of the report. The DOJ said that "to avoid any risk of prejudice to defendants Nauta and De Oliveira, the attorney general has determined, at the recommendation of the special counsel, that he will not publicly release volume two so long as defendants' criminal proceedings remain pending."

"For the time being, volume two will be made available for in-camera review only by the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees upon their request and agreement not to release any information from volume two publicly," the DOJ added. "This limited disclosure will further the public interest in keeping congressional leadership apprised of a significant matter within the department while safeguarding defendants' interests."

The filing does not say when Garland will release volume one. The revelations of his plans came a day after Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon—who last July dismissed the classified documents case, leading to an appeal—ordered the DOJ to withhold Smith's final report, despite questions about her authority to do so.

Government watchdog groups and ethics experts have lambasted Garland for not going after Trump quickly and forcefully enough for his various alleged crimes—which critics argue could have prevented his looming return to office.

The president-elect is set to be sworn in on January 20. His attorneys claimed in a Monday letter to Garland that releasing Smith's report would "violate the Presidential Transition Act and the presidential immunity doctrine."

Trump's lawyers have seen a draft of Smith's report and offered a preview in the letter to Garland, writing in part that "volume one of the draft report falsely asserts, without any jury determination, that President Trump and others 'engaged in an unprecedented criminal effort,' was 'the head of the criminal conspiracies,' and harbored a 'criminal design,'" while "volume II asserts, without any supporting verdict, 'that Mr. Trump violated multiple federal criminal laws,' and that he and others engaged in 'criminal conduct.'"

Politicopointed out Wednesday that "Trump welcomed the public release of previous special counsel reports, including Special Counsel Robert Hur's devastating assessment of President Joe Biden."

The Republican-controlled Senate is already preparing to hold confirmation hearings for Trump nominees including Pam Bondi, a former Florida attorney general and the president-elect's pick to replace Biden-appointed Garland.

Trump, meanwhile, has said that he is considering swiftly issuing pardons for his supporters charged and convicted for storming the U.S. Capitol four years ago—which opponents have warned "would be an affront to our democracy."