Jack Smith, the attorney general of the DOJ, and the president-elect’s legal team: Reporting Cannon’s decision to drop Smith’s report
Cannon, who was recently appointed to the judge by Trump, ordered the DOJ not to give Jack Smith’s final report until a federal appeals court adjudicates the case.
The DOJ dropped Trump from its appeal after he won the election. The other two defendants raised fear that publication of Smith’s final report would prejudice them against each other even though they are still facing a trial.
Special counsels have to file a report with the attorney general when they finish their work. The current attorney general, Merrick Garland, has pledged to make most of those reports public.
The special counsel was appointed without authorization and that any public report would be illegal and hurt his transition to the White House, according to Trump.
He personally attacked Smith at a press conference on Tuesday, calling him “a mean, nasty guy” and praising Cannon’s decision to throw out the documents case.
“DOJ must release its report on Trump’s mishandling of classified documents by January 20 so that the American people can understand the full extent of the President-elect’s unlawful possession of hundreds of the government’s most sensitive documents,” he said in a statement. “The public’s right to know is paramount.”
A New York state appeals court denied a request from Trump’s legal team for a delay in his sentencing for his conviction for violating campaign finance laws, which is scheduled for Friday.
A jury found Trump guilty of 34 counts for lying in his business records about his payment to Daniels. Trump’s legal team had sought to delay or scrap the entire case, arguing the president-elect was immune from prosecution.
DOJ Response to “Comment on ‘An Absorbing the Light from the Doomsday Dark Matter’” [J. Mag. J. Stuttenberg 84, 524 (2005)]
The DOJ protested the attempt to block the report’s first volume, and said that there was no need for the court to intervene.
The public interest in keeping congressional leadership aware of a significant matter within the Department will be furthered by the limited disclosure.
“To avoid any risk of prejudice to defendants Nauta and De Oliveira, the Attorney General has determined, at the recommendation of the Special Counsel, that he will not publicly release Volume Two as long as defendants’ criminal proceedings remain pending,” DOJ lawyers wrote in the filing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.