U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland is fighting to release Jack Smith’s final report after Judge Cannon issued a temporary injunction preventing its public release.
On Tuesday, Judge Aileen Cannon temporarily blocked Jack Smith’s report on his lawfare investigation into President Trump.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland previously said he would release Jack Smith’s final report on Trump.
Judge Cannon’s temporary injunction will remain in effect until three days after a federal appeals court rules on a pending motion to block Jack Smith’s report in a case involving other defendants in the classified documents case.
In a Monday night filing, lawyers for Trump’s co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, asked Judge Cannon to block Jack Smith’s report, citing her previous ruling that the special counsel’s appointment was unconstitutional.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland is now “blocked from releasing, sharing, or transmitting” Jack Smith’s final report – “or any drafts of such Report outside the Department of Justice, or (b) otherwise releasing, distributing, conveying, or sharing with anyone outside the Department of Justice any information or conclusions in the Final Report or in drafts thereof.”
Merrick Garland said there is no legal basis for Cannon’s injunction.
As reported by NBC News:
Special counsel Jack Smith has turned over to Attorney General Merrick Garland the completed final report on his two investigations that resulted in felony charges against President-elect Donald Trump, part of which Garland intends to make public, the Justice Department said in a filing Wednesday.
The filing — which was made by the Justice Department separate from Smith’s office — came after Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon temporarily blocked the release of the report on Trump’s handling of classified documents. Cannon is the Florida judge who tossed the charges against Trump, siding with an argument that Smith’s appointment was unconstitutional.
But the Justice Department said Wednesday there was “neither any need nor legal basis for an injunction” on the release of the report because Garland intends to give Congress only volume one — which focuses on Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election — “in furtherance of the public interest in informing a co-equal branch and the public regarding this significant matter.”
Share your thoughts by scrolling down to leave a comment.
