Special Counsel Jack Smith is preparing to deliver a two-volume confidential report explaining his prosecution decisions against President-elect Donald Trump as Inauguration Day approaches.
Smith’s office filed a notice in Florida federal court Tuesday detailing his plan to present a dossier to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland as required by federal regulations.
“The Attorney General will decide whether any portion of the report should be released to the public,” Smith’s office wrote in the notice. “The Attorney General has not yet determined how to handle the report volume pertaining to this case.”
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon of the Southern District of Florida dismissed Trump’s classified records retention case in July and granted an injunction Tuesday temporarily blocking Smith from transmitting a final report until after an appeals court rules on the issue.
Special counsel are legally required to provide the U.S. attorney general with a confidential report at the conclusion of their investigations.
Smith’s office is “working to finalize” a two-volume report explaining his prosecution decisions in the Florida records retention case and the now-dismissed criminal case in D.C. federal court accusing Trump of conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election, according to the Tuesday filing.
Counsel for Trump, including Todd Blanche and Emil Bove of Blanche Law and John Lauro and Gregory Singer of Lauro & Singer, sent a letter to Garland dated Monday asking the attorney general to fire Smith and prevent the preparation or release of any special counsel report.
“Smith’s proposed plan for releasing a report is unlawful, undertaken in bad faith, and contrary to the public interest,” counsel for Trump wrote in their letter to Garland. “No report should be prepared or released, and Smith should be removed, including for even suggesting that course of action given his obvious political motivations and desire to lawlessly undermine the transition.”
Trump will begin his second term Jan. 20 as the 47th president of the United States. His counsel filed a motion Tuesday asking Cannon to “immediately order Smith and his Office not to transmit any aspect of the Report to the Attorney General before the Emergency Motion is resolved.”
Smith has appealed Cannon’s dismissal of the classified records case but dropped his appeal to reinstate those charges against Trump after the former president won the 2024 presidential election.
The remaining co-defendants in the Florida records retention case filed emergency motions in the trial court and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit opposing the release of any special counsel report.
“The Final Report promises to be a one-sided, slanted report that serves a singular purpose: attempting to convince the public that everyone Smith charged is guilty of the charged crimes,” counsel for co-defendants Waltine Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira wrote in an emergency motion filed Tuesday in the Eleventh Circuit. “But Nauta’s and De Oliveira’s criminal cases are not over; this appeal is still pending and, so long as it is, there remains the threat of future criminal proceedings—criminal proceedings the Final Report will prejudice. This Court can, and should, intervene to protect the Defendants’ constitutional rights.”
Stanley E. Woodward Jr. of Brand Woodward Law and Richard C. Klugh of Klugh Wilson represent Nauta, while John S. Irving IV of E&W Law and Larry Donald Murrell Jr. of L.D. Murrell represent De Oliveira.
“President Trump joins in full the arguments presented by Nauta and Oliveira in the Emergency Motion,” counsel for Trump wrote in a Tuesday filing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida’s West Palm Beach division.
Counsel for Nauta and De Oliveira seek urgent relief and have asked the Eleventh Circuit to rule on their emergency motion by Friday.
Cannon’s temporary injunction remains in effect until three days after the Eleventh Circuit rules on the emergency motion, according to the trial court order temporarily blocking Smith from delivering a final report to Garland.
