Outgoing U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, citing public interest, told congressional leaders that he intends to release Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigative report on President-elect Donald Trump once he's allowed to by the courts.
In a letter to the chairs and ranking members of the Judiciary Committees of both houses of Congress on Wednesday, Garland notified the lawmakers that Smith has concluded his investigation and submitted a two-volume final report on Trump's involvement concerning the results of the 2020 presidential election and the classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
"As I have made clear regarding every Special Counsel who has served since I took office, I am committed to making as much of the Special Counsel's report public as possible, consistent with legal requirements and Department policy," Garland wrote.
"As stated in the Department's filings in the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals today, when permitted to do so by the court, I intend to provide to you and to the public Volume One of the Report," Garland added.
Regarding Volume 2, Garland said he would not release that report as long as the criminal cases involving Waltine Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira were ongoing "to avoid any risk of prejudice to the defendants," Garland wrote.
Garland's letter came a day after U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon blocked the release of Smith's reports until a federal appeals court ruled on a request by lawyers for Nauta and De Oliveira to quash the release. The matter is now before the 11th U.S. Court of Appeals.
However, Garland said he would provide the report "in camera review" to the four Judiciary leaders, so long as they agreed not to release any of the contents publicly.
Lawyers for Nauta and De Oliveira, who were charged with obstructing the documents investigation, objected to Garland doing that, too.
"The concern about leaks cannot be overlooked; Congress is a political body; its individual members have political aims; and this is a political case," lawyers for the two men wrote Wednesday, The Hill reported.
Garland wrote that once criminal proceedings against Nauta and De Oliveira concluded, he would release all of Volume 2, again citing public interest.
However, Garland will be long out of office by then, and the Justice Department under Trump is expected to drop charges against Nauta and De Oliveira and shelve both volumes of Smith's report, according to The Hill.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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