Washington – A federal appeals court in Atlanta on Thursday rejected a bid to block the release of a portion of Final Report of Special Counsel Jack Smith Details its investigation and prosecution of President-elect Donald Trump stemming from an alleged scheme to thwart the transfer of power after the 2020 election.
US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit rejected The request by Trump associate Walt Nauta and former Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos de Oliveira, who were charged by Trump for their roles in allegedly obstructing a separate federal investigation into his handling of sensitive government records .
The 11th Circuit granted Smith's request. take Trump out of the case it was at the end of november elected for a second term Due to a Justice Department policy at the White House that prohibits prosecuting a sitting president. But federal prosecutors are moving forward with an appeal of a lower court ruling that dismissed charges against Nauta and de Oliveira on the grounds that Smith was appointed unconstitutionally.
Smith submitted a two-volume final report to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday evening, detailing his investigation into Trump. The first section relates to prosecutions arising from the 2020 election, and the second section relates to alleged misuse of classified documents by the President-elect after leaving office in 2020.
Garland promised to disclose to the public all special consultation reports completed while he was Attorney General, and has so far followed through on that pledge, including after President Biden's investigation Management of classified marked documents.
But earlier this week lawyers for Nauta and de Oliveira sought to block Smith's report from being made public, arguing it would unfairly reflect on potential future criminal proceedings against them. Defense lawyers simultaneously asked 11th Circuit and U.S. District Judge Eileen Cannon, who oversaw the case, to block the Justice Department from releasing the report.
cannon on tuesday agreed to temporarily block The report will be released until the 11th Circuit resolves the case, leaving it up to the appeals court to decide whether Smith's work should be made public. His order will remain in effect for the next three days, although the appeals court said if the Justice Department wants relief, it can file a notice of appeal.
The Justice Department declined to comment. Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement Thursday night that “It is time for Joe Biden and Merrick Garland to do the right thing and put a final stop to the political weaponization of our justice system.”
In a filing with the 11th Circuit, the Justice Department asked the court to reject Nauta and de Oliveira's bid to keep the report hidden from the public, but said Garland would not release the portion of the classified documents related to the case. While the proceedings involving both the co-defendants are ongoing.
Separately, the President-elect's counsel Garland urged In a letter calling for the removal of Smith from the post of special counsel and to stop the preparation and dissemination of his report.
Prosecutors said the attorney general plans to disclose to Congress and the American people the first volume of Smith's report on the 2020 election matter. He said he would make a revised version of the second section about the case containing documents available for review by top lawmakers on the House and Senate Judiciary committees, and only if they agreed not to share information from it.
“This limited disclosure will further the public interest in making congressional leadership aware of an important matter within the Department while protecting the interests of the defendants,” prosecutors wrote.
wear garland on wednesday informed The top Republicans and Democrats on the Judiciary committees said Smith has completed his investigation and submitted a two-part report. The Attorney General reiterated his intention to make the first section public “to further the public interest in informing the co-equal branch and the public about this important matter” but “to avoid any risk of prejudice.” “Will not release the second volume. To Nauta and de Oliveira.
In their own filing in the 11th Circuit, defense attorneys urged the court to send the dispute back to Canon's court for hearing and, in the meantime, block Garland and the Justice Department from releasing Smith's final report.
He wrote, “The hearings are necessary to prevent overreach of the federal government to serve political purposes at the expense of the individual's right to a fair trial.”
Although Trump is not a party before the 11th Circuit, his lawyers have filed an application Brief description of friend of the court The court was urged to block the release of Smith's report.
He claimed that the report, “is nothing less than another political effort whose sole purpose is to disrupt the presidential transition and undermine President Trump's exercise of executive power.”