With special counsel Jack Smith’s final reports the subject of lawsuits and just over a week remaining before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, lawyers are skeptical that his findings will ever become public.
Under normal circumstances, special counsels submit a final report on their investigation to the Justice Department, which the attorney general can then choose whether or not to make public.
However, in the final days of President Joe Biden’s term, Trump’s lawyers, along with his former co-defendants in the Florida classified documents case, have worked to block the release of Smith’s final report on his investigation into Trump’s attempts to crack the case to undo, to prevent. the results of the 2020 election and his hoarding of classified documents at his estate, Mar-a-Lago.
Earlier this week, Trump’s co-defendants asked Judge Aileen Cannon to block the release of the special counsel’s report, and on Wednesday, Trump’s own lawyers asked the 11th Circuit federal appeals court to block the release of Smith’s final report block.
That request by the remaining defendants was denied by the 11th Circuit on Thursday evening. However, an order from Cannon blocking the report’s release until three days after the 11th Circuit rules on it remains in effect. (Later Thursday evening, the Justice Department appealed Cannon’s order.)
So far, the Justice Department has indicated it plans to release the report in two parts, with the first, on Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, publicly released, and the second, on Trump’s custody of secret documents, only to be released. to senior lawmakers in the House and Senate.
However, the various attempts by Trump and his former co-defendants to block and delay the release of the report – coupled with the fact that Trump will soon come to power and thus gain control of the Justice Department – raise concerns leaving some wondering if the full report will ever be released.
Barbara McQuade, who served as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, told Salon that “Donald Trump is clearly trying to run out the clock until he is sworn in on January 20,” adding, “Once he gains control of DOJ , he may try to destroy the report.’
McQuade said the remaining two defendants in the classified documents case have legitimate concerns about the release of Smith’s report on the classified documents investigation and that the “volume of the report relevant to their case should be redacted to suit their interests.” protect,” which she suspects the Justice Department has already done.
“While it appears that Smith could have released his report earlier to avoid the risk of Trump using friendly judges to run out the clock, the report is ultimately subject to FOIA,” McQuade said. “One day, when the investigations are completed, the public will learn the contents of the report.”
Ty Cobb, a former member of the White House legal team in the first Trump administration, told Salon that he is optimistic that the first part of Smith’s report will be released before Trump takes office, but that he does not believe it second part will be made public. .
“It has to be done and I expect many lawsuits will follow. I expect that at least at the end of the proceedings against the two co-defendants, the media and public interest groups will take action to secure their release,” Cobb said.
Cobb said he expected that much of what was in the final report would already be public information, but that the final report would likely include substantiation of that information from new sources and witnesses.
“I think what you’ll see in the report is that it reaffirms each of the allegations in the complaint, but the evidence for those allegations extends beyond what the public can currently access,” Cobb said.
Cobb also suspects the issue could end up in the Supreme Court. Judge Clarence Thomas is hearing emergency cases arising from the 11th Circuit, meaning he could potentially delay making a decision until Trump assumes office and control of the Justice Department. But Cobb said he doesn’t think Chief Justice John Robert would let that happen, in part because Trump’s team’s legal arguments to block the release of both parts are thin.
“There is no legal problem. It is in no way related to immunity or transition,” Cobb said. “There is no legal remedy to obscure the intended transparency of the special counsel process.”
Sarah Krissoff, a former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, told Salon that she, too, thinks Trump’s legal team will ultimately be unsuccessful in blocking the release of Smith’s work.
“It is difficult to imagine that this issue will receive consideration in the Supreme Court,” she said.
