DOJ Asks Court to Remove Delay in Releasing Special Counsel’s Trump Report

Attorney General Merrick Garland in Washington on March 21, 2024. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) wants to quickly release a report detailing special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into President-elect Donald Trump.

DOJ officials in a filing docketed on Jan. 10 said that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit should remove a lower court order preventing it from releasing the report for three days.

“The United States respectfully renews its request that this Court vacate the district court’s temporary injunction. After considering defendants’ fully briefed motion and supporting amicus briefs, this Court concluded that defendants’ motion for injunctive relief should be denied. For all of the same reasons, the district court erred in granting the same injunction,” officials said.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon entered the order in question on Jan. 7. Her order blocked the DOJ from releasing the report or otherwise sharing it with people outside of the DOJ for three days, or until the 11th Circuit resolved an emergency motion brought by Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, who were charged along with Trump, to the appeals court.

Prosecutors have dropped charges against Trump in the wake of his 2024 election win but are still pursuing Nauta and De Oliveira, who asked the courts to prevent the DOJ from releasing Smith’s report in light of Cannon previously finding he was unconstitutionally appointed.

Smith already transmitted the report to Attorney General Merrick Garland, and courts have no jurisdiction to prevent Garland from making the report public, U.S. officials countered. They said they would only make part one, which pertains to Trump, public for now. But they want to share part two, which deals with Nauta and De Oliveira, with members of Congress.

The 11th Circuit on Thursday denied the emergency motion. At the same time, the appellate court directed U.S. officials to file a notice of appeal as to Cannon’s order.

In its appeal, DOJ lawyers said that Cannon “had no proper basis for preventing 2 the Attorney General from making Volume Two available for in camera review by the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, pursuant to restrictions to protect confidentiality and subject to redactions to protect information protected by Rule 6(e) and court orders.”

They added, “And the district court had no basis at all for enjoining the public release of Volume One, which relates to a prosecution that does not concern defendants and which, in any event, defendants have identified no plausible merits theory for enjoining.”

The 11th Circuit should promptly vacate Cannon’s order, paving the way for the release of part one, the officials said.

Trump is set to be sworn in on Jan. 20. Trump’s lawyers previously said that Smith’s report is a “political hit job” and in an amicus brief urged the court to not allow its release.