Jack Smith Preparing Final Report on Trump Case, Could Be Released in Days

Special counsel Jack Smith speaks to the press at the Department of Justice building in Washington on Aug. 1, 2023. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

Special counsel Jack Smith is preparing a final report on the case involving President-elect Donald Trump and two others, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) confirmed on Jan. 7.

Smith’s office is preparing a two-volume report to explain Smith’s prosecution decisions, lawyers for Smith’s office and the DOJ said in a filing to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon. One of the volumes pertains to the case Smith brought against Trump, former aide Walt Nauta, and Mar-a-Lago manager Carlos De Oliveira.

Attorney General Merrick Garland “has not yet determined how to handle the report volume pertaining to this case,” but will commit to not releasing it to the public before 10 a.m. on Jan. 10, the lawyers added. Smith will not transmit the report to Garland before 1 p.m. on Jan. 7.

The details by the government came after Nauta and De Oliveira, through their lawyers, urged Cannon to enter an order blocking Smith from sharing the report with anybody else, and from taking any further actions to complete it.

The release of the report, they said, “would directly infringe on Nauta’s and De Oliveira’s Fifth Amendment due process rights, taking on the status of a public form of an invalid new indictment, replete with unfairly prejudicial assertions of alleged offenses going well beyond any assertions in the indictment and other public filings.”

The lawyers said that Cannon needs to act quickly because they believe that the government will issue the final report within the next few days.

Federal law states that each special counsel shall provide the attorney general with a confidential report “explaining the prosecution or declination decisions reached by the Special Counsel.”

Smith brought two cases against Trump. Both were dropped after Trump won the 2024 election and started preparing to take office again.

Trump’s lawyers told Garland in a separate letter that they were able to review a draft of the report recently in Washington and that there are serious problems with the document.

“The Draft Report violates fundamental norms regarding the presumption of innocence, including with respect to third parties unnecessarily impugned by Smith’s false claims,” the lawyers said.

Releasing the report to the public would violate the Presidential Transition Act, according to the lawyers.

Both sets of lawyers highlighted how Cannon previously found that Smith was unconstitutionally appointed as a special counsel.

“Because Smith has proposed an unlawful course of action, you must countermand his plan and remove him promptly. If Smith is not removed, then the handling of his report should be deferred to President Trump’s incoming attorney general, consistent with the expressed will of the People,” Trump’s lawyers told Garland.

“Finally, should you disagree with the positions set forth below, we respectfully request notice of that decision prior to the unlawful release of any report so that we can pursue injunctive and other relief to protect the rights of President Trump, others unfairly implicated by Smith’s work, and the people of this great Nation who elected President Trump to run the government and put an end to the weaponization of the justice system,” they added.

Smith’s office and the DOJ said the brief, early morning filing would be followed by a more detailed response to the emergency motion by 7 p.m. on Tuesday.