Garland intends to release portion of Jack Smith’s report related to Jan. 6 probe

(WASHINGTON) -- U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland intends to publicly release the portion of special counsel Jack Smith's final report related to his federal election interference case against Donald Trump, according to a court filing Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who dismissed Trump's classified documents case, on Tuesday temporarily blocked the release of Smith's final report in order to prevent "irreparable harm," while the matter is considered by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Prosecutors in Wednesday's filing argued that Garland has the "inherent" authority to release the report, and they asked the Eleventh Circuit to vacate Judge Cannon's order and deny the request from Trump's former co-defendants, aide Walt Nauta and staffer Carlos De Oliveira, to block the release of the report.

Prosecutors argued that because Smith already transmitted his report to Garland, the argument made by Trump's former co-defendants about the legitimacy of Smith's appointment is "moot."

"The Attorney General is the Senate-confirmed head of the Department of Justice and is vested with the authority to supervise all officers and employees of the Department. The Attorney General thus has authority to decide whether to release an investigative report prepared by his subordinates," the filing said.

"That authority is inherent in the office of Attorney General; it does not depend on the lawfulness of the Special Counsel's appointment to take actions as an inferior officer of the United States or on the Department's specific regulations authorizing the Attorney General to approve the public release of Special Counsel reports," prosecutors argued.

While defense attorneys had sought to block the release of Volume Two of the report related to the classified documents case -- and not Volume One, which covers Trump's election interference case -- Judge Cannon's order referred only to the "final report," and not the two volumes within, suggesting that the entire report was blocked from release.

Prosecutors asked the appeals court to "make clear that there is no impediment to the Attorney General allowing for limited congressional review of Volume Two as described above and the publicly release of Volume One."

Garland does not intend to publicly release the report related to the classified documents case at this point, according to the filing, though the volume will be available to the ranking members and chairs of the House and Senate Judiciary committees. The filing makes clear that the decision by Garland to not release the volume of the report involving the classified documents investigation was recommended by Smith himself when it was transmitted to Garland Tuesday evening.

"Defendants Nauta and De Oliveira have no cognizable interest in that volume of the Final Report, however, nor any plausible theory of Article III standing that would justify their asking this Court to grant relief with respect to it. Nor would there be any legal basis for any other interested party to seek to block release of Volume One," prosecutors argued.

Trump pleaded not guilty in June 2023 to 37 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials, after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to return hundreds of documents containing classified information ranging from U.S. nuclear secrets to the nation's defense capabilities, and took steps to thwart the government's efforts to get the documents back.

The former president, along with Nauta and De Oliveira, also pleaded not guilty in a superseding indictment to allegedly attempting to delete surveillance footage at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.

Smith has been winding down his cases against the former president since Trump was reelected in November, due to a longstanding Department of Justice policy prohibiting the prosecution of a sitting president.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.