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Two of President-elect Trump Former defendants in the classified documents case want a judge to block special counsel Jack Smith’s report from release.
Trump valet Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, the property manager of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., want U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to uphold Smith’s report out of the public eye.
Fox News is told the report has been out for a few days. It could be later this week or sometime next week. Smith will step down from his position before Trump takes office on January 20.
“These defendants will suffer irreparable harm as civilian victims of the Government’s impermissible and forceful use of political law to include the unauthorized release of the report,” lawyers for Nauta and De Oliveira wrote in a motion of urgency presented on Monday. “The final report is based on materials that Smith, as a disqualified special counsel, is no longer entitled to access, making his attempt to share those materials with the public highly inappropriate.”
SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH PLAN TO RESIGN, SUBMITS REPORT BEFORE TRUMP CAN TACKLE HIM: REPORT
U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith speaks during a press conference in Washington, DC, U.S., Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The emergency motion asked the Court for an immediate hearing to “establish the impropriety of the uncontrolled release; the extent of the resulting harm; and the specific materials contained in the report for which the release is impermissible.”
“The final report promises to be a biased, one-sided report, based almost exclusively on evidence presented to a grand jury and subject to all necessary safeguards, and which Smith only knows about as a result of his unconstitutional appointment, in order to serve for a singular purpose: to convince the public that all of Smith’s co-defendants are guilty of the crimes charged,” Nauta and De Oliveira’s lawyers wrote.
“But Nauta’s and De Oliveira’s criminal cases are not over; Smith’s appeal of this Court’s dismissal order is still pending,” the motion reads. “The Government continued to report on the appeal even after the appeal was dismissed as to President Trump. There is the threat of future criminal proceedings for Nauta and De Oliveira, and these proceedings will be irreversibly and irremediably damaged by the dissemination of the final report.”
It is common for a special counsel to issue a final report when their work is complete, detailing the findings of their investigation and explaining any charging or declining decisions they made as a result of the investigation. In Smith’s case, the prosecutor’s decision is irrelevant, given Trump’s status as president-elect and longstanding Justice Department policy. against filing criminal charges against a sitting president.
The report would first go to Attorney General Merrick Garland’s office for review, according to standard practice.
Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, who is about to take a top job at the Justice Department, is asking Garland not to release the report.
“Smith’s proposed plan to publish a report is unlawful, undertaken in bad faith and contrary to the public interest,” Blanche wrote in an exhibit attached to the same motion. “Smith’s conduct also raises serious concerns under Article II because it unlawfully intrudes on the executive authority of the incoming President Trump administration to resolve issues surrounding Smith’s office pursuant to the mandate President Trump’s reigning national of the electorate.”
Wal Nauta, former President Trump’s personal assistant, arrives at the Alto Lee Adams Sr. US Courthouse. in Fort Pierce, Florida on August 10, 2023. (CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)
“The time has come to put an end to this weaponization of justice and move forward in a constructive way,” he argued further. “No report should be prepared or published, and Smith should be removed for even suggesting such a course of action given his obvious political motivations and desire to lawlessly undermine the transition.”
Trump, Nauta and De Oliveira pleaded not guilty to federal charges alleging they conspired to obstruct the FBI’s investigation into classified documents. found at Mar-a-Lago.
Smith was tapped by Garland in 2022 to investigate both the alleged effort by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election, as well as Trump’s keeping of allegedly classified documents at his Florida residence .
Carlos De Oliveira, center, an employee of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, arrives for a court appearance with attorney John Irving at the James Lawrence King Federal Justice Building, Monday, July 31, 2023 in Miami. (Wilfredo Lee/AP)
But he has yet to outline the research and its findings in his report to Garland, who will then decide whether to share it publicly.
Notably, Garland has chosen to release the reports of two other special counsels whose investigations concluded during his tenure, releasing both the summary reports filed by John Durham, who was tapped by then-Attorney General Bill Barr in 2019 to review law enforcement and intelligence gathering. during the 2016 presidential campaign and the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation, as well as the final report of former U.S. attorney Robert Hur whom he used in 2023 to investigate President Biden’s handling of classified documents.
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These reports were made public at the same time they were shared with members of Congress. It’s unclear whether Garland will do the same with Smith’s findings, given her and Trump’s sensitivities. status of elected president.
Fox News’ Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report.
