REDSTATE | Published January 9, 2025
Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Department of Justice has formally requested that the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals lift an injunction issued by Judge Aileen Cannon, which temporarily blocks the release of a report by Special Counsel Jack Smith.
The report focuses on investigations involving former President Donald Trump. The primary focus of the investigation – and thus, Smith’s report – is on Trump’s alleged efforts to challenge the 2020 election results. However, another portion of it also deals with the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case, which was tossed by Cannon last year.
Garland has indicated plans to release the first volume of the report, which details election-related matters, to Congress and the public. However, Judge Cannon’s order requires a three-day delay following any decision by the 11th Circuit, a provision the DOJ has criticized as unwarranted. The Justice Department argues that the injunction is unnecessary and impedes its efforts to provide transparency to Congress and the public.
Volume two of the report, which pertains to Trump’s classified documents case, will remain confidential due to ongoing legal proceedings. The DOJ has assured that this portion of the report will only be made available for private review by select congressional leaders. However, concerns over leaks from Democrats in Congress remain an issue, the President-elect’s former co-defendants argued in a Wednesday evening filing.
“The concern about leaks cannot be overlooked; Congress is a political body; its individual members have political aims; and this is a political case,” lawyers for Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira said in the filing.
Judge Cannon, a Trump appointee, has previously faced scrutiny for her rulings in cases involving the former president. Critics point to her decision to dismiss charges related to the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case as an example of perceived leniency. The DOJ’s filing argues that her latest decision lacks a clear legal basis and delays the public’s right to information on significant national issues.
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SOURCE: www.redstate.com
RELATED: Merrick Garland Still Plans to Release One of Jack Smith’s Reports While Withholding Another
TOWNHALL | Published January 9, 2025
With President-elect Donald Trump to be inaugurated in less than two weeks, Attorney General Merrick Garland is still planning on releasing Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report in the criminal case he brought against Trump for the events on and leading up to January 6, 2021. Garland, however, plans on holding onto a report to do with other criminal charges brought against Trump over classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
While Garland won’t be releasing the report on classified documents, it’s not exactly out of the goodness of his heart. Reporting from The Hill earlier on Wednesday covered how Trump’s co-defendants, driver Walt Nauta and property manager Carlos De Oliveira, still face trial.
As The Hill mentioned:
Attorney General Merrick Garland plans to release only the volume of special counsel Jack Smith’s report dealing with Donald Trump’s plans to subvert the transfer of power after his loss in the 2020 election, holding back on sharing the Mar-a-Lago report while the president-elect’s two co-defendants still face trial.
Federal prosecutors made Garland’s plans clear in a Wednesday morning filing urging an appeals court to reject a bid from Trump valet Walt Nauta and property manager Carlos De Oliveira to bar the attorney general from releasing the report in its entirety.
Garland made the determination at Smith’s recommendation “to avoid any risk of prejudice.”
“The Attorney General determined that he will not make a public release of Volume Two while defendants’ cases remain pending. That should be the end of the matter,” prosecutors wrote.
The filing says the top members of the House and Senate Judiciary committees will be able to review the Mar-a-Lago report at the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Nauta and de Oliveira opposed that in a later filing, citing risk the lawmakers could leak details of the report.
…
The filing comes amid a broader legal battle by Trump and his co-defendants to block Smith from releasing both sections of his two-volume report.
The trio first went to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who agreed Tuesday to block release of the whole report without waiting for a promised filing by Smith’s team.
…
Cannon also enjoined Smith from releasing the portion of the report dealing with Jan. 6, 2021, a matter that was overseen by a Washington, D.C.-based federal judge.
Trump, meanwhile, sent a letter to Garland urging him to fire Smith and leave the decision of whether to release the report to his own attorney general in the incoming administration.
Nauta, De Oliveira and the president-elect made nearly identical filings before the 11th Circuit, which is now weighing the matter.
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SOURCE: www.townhall.com
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