January 8, 2025
We may actually see — at least part of special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into President elect Donald Trump’s conduct. That’s according to a new filing by the Department of Justice to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
This comes even though a federal district court judge ruled yesterday they can’t release the report.
Here’s what’s happening. I told you in this video yesterday Florida federal judge Aileen Cannon ruled that Attorney General Merrick Garland – at least temporarily cannot release special counsel Jack Smith’s reports about the results of the investigation into Trump’s election interference case and the classified documents case because two of Trump’s co-defendants in the classified documents case said releasing the report would cause them irreparable injury and they argued the attorney general can’t release it because judge Cannon ruled that special counsel Smith was not legally appointed. Judge Cannon sided with Trump’s co-defendants and ordered the report stay sealed until three days after the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals made a decision on whether Trump’s co-defendants have a case.
Well – in a filing this morning – to the 11th Circuit the Justice Department pushed back against Judge Cannon and said “there is neither a need nor legal basis for an injunction.” The 31-page filing says basically Judge Cannon got out over her skis on this order and the attorney general has plans to release part of Jack Smith’s report because judge Cannon has absolutely no jurisdiction to stop him.
And here’s why. As I just reported Trump was facing two federal cases – the election interference case and the classified documents case. For the record — both of those cases have officially been dropped because Trump is going to be the President of the United States and the Department of Justice can’t prosecute a sitting president. But by law – all special counsels must produce a report on their investigation. Well – because Trump had two federal cases, the special counsel has a two-volume report. Volume one is the results of Smith’s investigation into Trump’s election interference case and volume two is the result of Smith’s investigation into Trump’s classified documents case.
The Department of Justice said in its filing today that attorney general Merrick Garland had no plans of publicly releasing the special counsel’s classified documents report — for now — because there is still ongoing litigation involving trump’s co-defendants. But “the attorney general intends to release volume one to Congress and the public consistent with 28 c.f.r. § 600.9(c) and in furtherance of the public interest in informing a co-equal branch and the public regarding this significant matter.”
The attorney general says judge Cannon’s jurisdiction certainly does not include the election interference case which was never argued in her courtroom. That case was in the jurisdiction of judge Tanya Chutkan in the federal district court in Washington DC. Judge Chutkan ruled that jack smith was absolutely legally appointed as special counsel.
So when are we going to see Smith’s election interference report? The DOJ’s filing says as long as the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals lifts judge Cannon’s order — the release is imminent. It could be made public any time before trump takes office.
As for the special counsel’s classified documents report today’s DOJ filing says until the 11th Circuit makes a decision on whether it can be released publicly — it will be made available privately only for the chairman and ranking members of the House and Senate judiciary committees upon their request and under an agreement that they cannot release any information publicly about it.
Read the DOJ’s filing here.
