{"id":36889,"date":"2025-01-07T03:03:05","date_gmt":"2025-01-07T09:03:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=36889"},"modified":"2025-01-07T03:03:53","modified_gmt":"2025-01-07T09:03:53","slug":"trump-seeks-to-block-imminent-release-of-special-counsel-jack-smiths-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=36889","title":{"rendered":"Trump seeks to block ‘imminent’ release of special counsel Jack Smith’s report"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

President-elect Donald Trump<\/a> and his former co-defendants in the Florida classified documents case launched an effort Monday to block the release of a final report by special counsel Jack Smith<\/a> that also addresses the election interference case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both cases against Trump have been dismissed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawyers for defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira filed a motion Monday night asking U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to block Smith, who prosecuted the case, from issuing his report. They cited the judge’s previous ruling that Smith\u2019s appointment was unconstitutional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Final Report promises to be a one-sided, slanted report, relying nearly exclusively on evidence presented to a grand jury and subject to all requisite protections\u2014and which is known to Smith only as a result of his unconstitutional appointment\u2014in order to serve a singular purpose: convincing the public that everyone Smith charged is guilty of the crimes charged,\u201d the four lawyers wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defense lawyers asked Cannon on Monday to hold a hearing and rule on their motion by Friday, saying they believe the release of the report is \u201cimminent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s lawyers, meanwhile, sent a letter urging Attorney General Merrick Garland to stop Smith from releasing the report. In the letter, Trump\u2019s lawyers called Smith an \u201cout-of-control private citizen unconstitutionally posing as a prosecutor\u201d aiming to politically harm Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAccordingly, because Smith has proposed an unlawful course of action, you must countermand his plan and remove him promptly. If Smith is not removed, then the handling of his report should be deferred to President Trump\u2019s incoming attorney general, consistent with the expressed will of the People,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s lawyers said they reviewed a two-volume draft copy of Smith\u2019s report at the special counsel\u2019s office in Washington, D.C., over the weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The special counsel\u2019s office is required under Justice Department regulations to provide a confidential report to Garland, who can choose to make it public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NBC News has reported<\/a> that Smith and his team plan to resign before Trump takes office on Jan. 20.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Justice Department charged Trump in Florida with mishandling classified documents after he left office. Cannon dismissed the case in July,\u2002<\/a>saying Smith\u2019s appointment was illegal. Trump had pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smith appealed the dismissal, but the case was upended by Trump\u2019s election in November, because of the Justice Department\u2019s long-standing policy not to prosecute sitting presidents. An appeals court later agreed to dismiss the case against Trump<\/a> at Smith\u2019s request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smith was also forced to wind down the election interference case against Trump after indicting him<\/a> in 2023 in connection with his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. A judge in November agreed to dismiss that case<\/a>, too, at Smith\u2019s request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Federal prosecutors are still appealing Cannon\u2019s dismissal of the charges against Nauta and De Oliveira.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nbcnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President-elect Donald Trump and his former co-defendants in the Florida classified documents case launched an effort Monday to block the release of a final report by special counsel Jack Smith that also addresses the election interference case. Both cases against Trump have been dismissed. Lawyers for defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira filed a motion Monday night asking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":36890,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[31913,31912,6864,1230],"class_list":["post-36889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-final-report","tag-jack-smith","tag-special-counsel","tag-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36889"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36889\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36891,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36889\/revisions\/36891"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/36890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}