Jan. 8 (UPI) — The Justice Department said Wednesday in a court filing that Attorney General Merrick Garland intends to release Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report on the alleged felony criminal conspiracy by President-elect Donald Trump to overturn the 2020 election.
In the filing, the Department of Justice said Smith’s final report has been transmitted to Garland.
Volume One of the report deals with the Special Counsel’s prosecution of Trump relating to the felony charges resulting from efforts to overturn the legal 2020 election of President Joe Biden.
“The attorney general intends to release Volume One to Congress and the public,” the court filing said.
The filing said the report is being released “in furtherance of the public interest in informing a co-equal branch and the public regarding this significant matter.”
To protect the rights of Trump co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, the filing said Volume Two of the Special Counsel report won’t be made public.
That report will be available for in-camera review by the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees.
In the filing, the Justice Department asked the appeals court to “make clear that there is no impediment to the attorney general” publicly releasing Volume One.
The filing also asks the court to make it clear there is no impediment to the attorney general “allowing for limited congressional review of Volume Two.”
The Justice Department said in the 11th Circuit filing the court should vacate Judge Eileen Cannon’s temporary injunction blocking the release of the Special Counsel report.
Cannon was criticized for allegedly lacking a bona fide legal basis for her decision to throw out charges against Trump based on her view that Special Counsel Jack Smith’s appointment was unconstitutional. Some of her decisions favoring Trump were reversed on appeal.
The Wednesday filing was in response to a motion brought by Trump co-defendants Nauta and De Oliveira seeking to legally block the release of the Special Counsel reports.
Garland plans to release just the volume regarding Trump’s alleged plans to subvert the legal transfer of presidential power after the 2020 election.
Nauta is Trump’s valet. De Oliveira is a Trump property manager.
Since Garland will not release the report on the felony charges against Trump for allegedly illegally possessing, that report will likely never be publicly released.
Trump will control the Justice Department when he becomes president.
He has vowed to kill the cases against him and has said he will pardon his supporters convicted of crimes related to the violent Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob seeking to block the transfer of presidential power.
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