The Justice Department is pushing to overturn a three-day delay on releasing special counsel Jack Smith’s Jan. 6 report after an appeals court denied a bid from President-elect Trump to block it entirely.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals late Thursday denied a request by Trump and his two co-defendants in the Mar-a-Lago documents case to bar Attorney General Merrick Garland from releasing his two-volume report covering both his election interference and documents investigations.
But a lower court ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon barring the report from being released for three days after the appeals court ruling remains in place.
It’s an unusual situation after Trump and co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira simultaneously turned to two courts to block the release of both volumes.
Prosecutors are now stuck fighting the battle in two courts, appealing Cannon’s order while asking the 11th Circuit to likewise strike down the three-day window in her order.
“The United States respectfully renews its request that this Court vacate the district court’s temporary injunction. After considering defendants’ fully briefed motion and supporting amicus briefs, this Court concluded that defendants’ motion for injunctive relief should be denied. For all of the same reasons, the district court erred in granting the same injunction,” prosecutors wrote, asking that the court “promptly vacate the district court’s temporary injunction.”
While Garland has said he wishes to publicly share the volume of Smith’s report dealing with election interference, he has committed to keeping the Mar-a-Lago volume private in order to avoid impacting the ongoing trial of Nauta and de Oliveira.
Garland said DOJ would only allow that volume to be reviewed by the leaders of each chamber’s Judiciary Committees.
Nauta and de Oliveira have said they fear lawmakers could still leak details about the report.
Nonetheless, neither man is likely to ever face trial, as Trump’s Justice Department is likely to dismiss the documents case entirely.
