President-elect Donald Trump‘s attorneys asked Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday to withhold special counsel Jack Smith’s final report from the public, arguing its release would be “imprudent and unlawful.”
Trump’s attorneys, led by his deputy attorney general nominee, Todd Blanche, made the demand in a scathing letter after recently reviewing a draft of the two-volume report.
They made numerous objections to the report’s release and said it functioned only as a “partisan weapon.” They argued Smith was not properly appointed as special counsel and therefore not in a position to release such a report. They also said it violated presidential immunity and interfered with Trump’s transition to the White House.
“You must countermand Smith’s proposed course of action, remove him, and stop the preparation and/or dissemination of the Draft Report,” Trump’s attorneys wrote.
The letter was included in a court filing the attorneys submitted in Florida late Monday night on behalf of Trump’s two co-defendants in his classified documents case. In the filing, the attorneys asked Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, to bar Garland from releasing the report. Smith had been forced to terminate his criminal proceedings against Trump after his election win in November, but Smith kept intact the charges against the co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira.
Justice Department regulations require special counsels to submit a confidential, final report detailing their work, and the attorney general has discretion over whether to release it. Recent special counsel reports have all been released to the public in redacted form, and the concealment of Smith’s would deviate from the norm.
Trump’s attorneys argued, however, that Smith’s entire appointment as special counsel was abnormal because he was a “private citizen” who had never been confirmed by the Senate.
“The release of any confidential report prepared by this out-of-control private citizen unconstitutionally posing as a prosecutor would be nothing more than a lawless political stunt, designed to politically harm President Trump and justify the huge sums of taxpayer money Smith unconstitutionally spent on his failed and dismissed cases,” Trump’s attorneys wrote.
The attorneys also said preparing and releasing the report violated the Presidential Transition Act and the Supreme Court’s landmark presidential immunity ruling because it would “exacerbate stigma and public opprobrium surrounding the Chief Executive and otherwise divert from the time and attention that is necessary to complete the transition and run the County.”
They also argued that although regulations required special counsels to write a final report at the conclusion of their work, Smith never concluded his investigations and prosecutions of Trump.
“Rather, Presidential immunity based on the national mandate arising from President Trump’s overwhelming victory in the election has made it impossible for Smith to proceed, and rightly so,” they wrote.
They also hinted at the contents of the report, saying it would prompt a “media storm of false and unfair criticism” of Trump that would interfere with his transition responsibilities.
The attorneys said Smith included “baseless attacks” on members of Trump’s incoming administration, which they described as “an obvious effort to interfere with upcoming confirmation hearings.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Smith also goes on a “pathetically transparent tirade about good-faith efforts by X to protect civil liberties” in the report, Trump’s attorneys said.
They warned they planned to take legal action if Garland indicated he would release the report.
Smith’s report would be a chance for the special counsel to get in a detailed final word on his dual investigations and prosecutions of Trump related to the president-elect’s handling of classified documents and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Smith had been forced to terminate both cases after Trump’s election win because of a DOJ policy that discourages prosecuting sitting presidents.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the DOJ for comment.
