Trump launches final battle with Jack Smith before he takes office

There was even more courtroom drama in the final days before Donald Trump is sworn in as president, with Trump’s lawyers rushing to get a judge to stop Jack Smith from releasing a two-part report on his historic charging decisions.

These cases have been turned on their head, but material in the special counsel’s report could damage the new administration just as it tries to get going after what Trump’s lawyers call a “national mandate from the voters.”

Smith plans to deliver the report to AG Merrick Garland on Tuesday afternoon — with a possible release as soon as Friday, just days before Trump takes the oath of office and takes control of the Justice Department, whose prosecutors have filed criminal charges against him.

Trump lawyers John Lauro and Todd Blanche – whom Trump nominated for a top role at the DOJ – argue in a blistering letter told Garland that the draft report is a “politically motivated attack.”

They call it the product of a “bad faith crusade,” claiming that Smith does not have the authority to produce it, and that it “violates fundamental norms regarding the presumption of innocence,” including against third parties identified alongside Trump indicted.

They say that the “release of any confidential report prepared by this out-of-control private citizen unconstitutionally posing as a prosecutor would be nothing more than a lawless political stunt designed to politically damage President Trump and vast sums of Smith’s tax dollars in an unconstitutional manner. spent on his failed and rejected cases.’

The lawsuits against Trump imploded after he won the presidential election, partly due to long-standing DOJ guidelines against suing the president while in office. Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the case against Trump over classified documents and accepted his lawyers’ argument that Smith’s appointment was not constitutional. That decision was appealed when Trump won the election in November.

The release of a major final report by a special counsel can be an explosive event. Special counsel Robert Hur’s final report on the Hunter Biden saga last spring included damaging language calling President Joe Biden an “older man with a bad memory,” which echoed throughout the campaign.

Trump’s team says a “one-sided, inappropriate report” would violate presidential immunity principles established by the Supreme Court.

They were able to review the draft report in DC and say that the first part of it “alleges, without any jury determination, that President Trump and others were ‘engaged in an unprecedented criminal effort,’ ‘mastered the criminal conspiracies’ and ‘ were in charge of the criminal conspiracies’. a ‘criminal design’. They quote pages 68 and 69 of the yet unseen draft report, while other quotes continue to page 108.

The second part “claims that Trump “violated multiple federal crime laws,” with quotes up to page 121 – suggesting a lengthy report of more than 200 pages.

The letter accuses Smith of filing “gratuitous charges,” holding a “lawless press conference” and making “extremely serious and completely false allegations” against Trump in the January 6 case and the classified documents case .

At the same time, Trump’s co-defendants in the documents case, Walt Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira, have asked Judge Cannon to block Garland from releasing the report, arguing that doing so would prevent them from receiving a fair trial.

Their obstruction cases continue even after Smith withdrew the government’s appeal to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Smith’s team asked a judge to set aside the Jan. 6 case, saying, “This outcome is not based on the merits or strength of the case against the defendant.”

One of the sections in Smith’s report concerns Trump’s possession of national security documents for Mar-a-Lago

Trump’s co-defendants ask Judge Aileen Cannon to block publication of the report

Trump’s lawyers are trying to block the release of a two-part report from special counsel Jack Smith in his final days before he takes office

The lawyers are slamming Smith and his team “as the inauguration approaches” for attempting to release a report that is “not a legitimate use of taxpayer dollars,” and accusing him of “lawfare” — a phrase Trump himself cited.

They accuse him of “unlawfully” infringing on President Trump’s new administration’s “executive authority to resolve the issues surrounding Smith’s office in accordance with President Trump’s national mandate from voters.” ‘

Smith’s team says the report could be released as early as Friday.

The report, submitted under DOJ rules governing special counsel investigations, is expected to detail prosecutors’ charging decisions in the case that led to Trump being indicted for taking a trove of national security documents to Mar- a-Lago.

They also include the decision to charge Trump with leading a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election.

Smith filed a superseding indictment in the Jan. 6 case, which narrowed the case after the Supreme Court issued its summer decision granting presidents presidential immunity from prosecution for official actions while in office.

Trump’s team wants the AG to block the report or leave the decision to Trump’s AG. Trump has said he will nominate former loyalist former Florida AG Pam Bondi for the post.

Smith’s team filed their own filing, outlining a plan to submit their report to Garland Monday afternoon, and that the portion of the case involving classified documents before Judge Cannon would not be made public until 10 a.m. Friday.

On Tuesday, former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), former vice chairwoman of the Jan. 6 House committee, weighed in.

She accused Trump of “once again covering up evidence and suppressing the truth.” The Justice Department has obtained testimony and evidence from dozens of former advisers to Trump and Vice President Pence that show the danger Trump poses. Now Trump is already doing what despots do: he is trying to hide the truth and threatening to jail those who investigated him.”

“AG Garland now has an obligation to release the Department of Justice report and prevent the evidence from being destroyed. The truth must prevail. The framers of our Constitution knew the lessons of history – that people led by men of no character can quickly lose their freedom,” she posted on X.