House Judiciary Committee Democrats are urging Attorney General Merrick Garland, in his final days in office, to release special counsel Jack Smith’s report on Donald Trump’s alleged mishandling and concealment of classified documents — even if it means dropping criminal charges against his alleged accomplices.
“It is essential that the American people and Congress understand how Mr. Trump mishandled our nation’s most sensitive classified information, especially because he will be sworn in as Commander-in-Chief and take leadership of our national security apparatus in just five days,” the Committee Democrats, led by write ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), wrote in a letter obtained by POLITICO.
The Democrats’ call came just days after Garland signaled he intended to maintain the secrecy of Smith’s report on the President-elect’s classified documents case, in part to protect the integrity of the ongoing criminal case against Trump’s former co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos DeOliveira.
Florida-based U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon tossed the case out in July, ruling that Smith was illegally appointed. The Justice Department was seeking to reinstate the charges when Donald Trump won the November election, forcing Smith to dismiss the case against Trump while he worked to reinstate the charges against Nauta and DeOliveira. Trump’s Justice Department is slated to inherit the case next week, and allies expect it to be quickly shelved.
The report is expected to detail Smith’s decision to charge Trump for hoarding a massive trove of military secrets at his Mar-a-Lago estate, and then attempt to hide them from federal officials seeking to reclaim them. Democrats have long viewed that case against Trump as among his most significant political vulnerabilities.
Smith, who also oversaw the prosecution of Trump for seeking to subvert the 2020 election results, filed his reports on the cases to Garland earlier this month before resigning. Garland released the election report on Tuesday.
Though Garland intends to keep the documents report secret, he has indicated he still wants to make it available to House and Senate Judiciary Committee leaders for review – which committee Democrats say isn’t good enough.
“The American people now deserve the opportunity to read Volume 2 of Special Counsel Smith’s report,” they write.
Meanwhile, Trump, Nauta and DeOliveira are currently fighting a court battle to prevent Garland from even sharing the report with Congress, arguing it could be leaked. Cannon has scheduled a hearing on the matter Friday in her Florida courtroom.
