Former Trump co-defendants want judge to block Special Counsel Jack Smith report
Two of President-elect Trump's former co-defendants in the classified documents case want a judge to block Special Counsel Jack Smith's report from being released to the public.
Trump's valet Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, the property manager of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, want U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to keep Smith’s report out of the public eye.
Fox News is told the report is days from being released. It could be later this week or sometime next week. Smith will resign from his position before Trump takes office on January 20.
"These Defendants will irreparably suffer harm as civilian casualties of the Government’s impermissible and contumacious utilization of political lawfare to include release of the unauthorized Report," Nauta and De Oliveira's attorneys wrote in an emergency motion filed on Monday. "The Final Report relies on materials to which Smith, as disqualified special counsel, is no longer entitled access— making his attempt to share such materials with the public highly improper."
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The emergency motion asked the Court for an immediate hearing to "establish the impropriety of unchecked release; the scope of the resulting prejudice; and the specific materials contained in the Report for which release is impermissible."
"The Final Report promises to be a one-sided, slanted report, relying nearly exclusively on evidence presented to a grand jury and subject to all requisite protections—and which is known to Smith only as a result of his unconstitutional appointment—in order to serve a singular purpose: convincing the public that everyone Smith charged is guilty of the crimes charged," Nauta and De Oliveira's attorneys wrote.
"But Nauta’s and De Oliveira’s criminal cases are not over; the appeal of this Court’s dismissal order by Smith is still pending," the motion says. "The Government notably continued briefing the appeal even following the dismissal of the appeal as to President Trump. There remains the threat of future criminal proceedings as to Nauta and De Oliveira, and those proceedings will be irreversibly and irredeemably prejudiced by dissemination of the Final Report."
It is customary for a special counsel to release a final report when his or her work is done, detailing the findings of their investigation and explaining any prosecution or declination decisions they reached as a result of the probe. In Smith's case, the prosecution decision is immaterial, given Trump's status as president-elect and longstanding Justice Department policy against bringing criminal charges against a sitting president.
The report would first go to Attorney General Merrick Garland’s office for review, according to standard practice.
Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche, who is poised to be in a senior role at the Department of Justice, is asking Garland not to release the report.
"Smith’s proposed plan for releasing a report is unlawful, undertaken in bad faith, and contrary to the public interest," Blanche wrote in an exhibit attached to the same motion. "Smith’s conduct also raises grave concerns under Article II because it unlawfully encroaches on the Executive authority of the incoming Administration of President Trump to resolve the issues surrounding Smith’s Office in accordance with President Trump’s commanding national mandate from the voters."
"The time has come to put an end to this weaponization of the justice system and move forward constructively," he argued further. "No report should be prepared or released, and Smith should be removed, including for even suggesting that course of action given his obvious political motivations and desire to lawlessly undermine the transition."
Trump, Nauta and De Oliveira all pleaded not guilty to federal charges alleging they conspired to obstruct the FBI investigation into classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago.
Smith was tapped by Garland in 2022 to investigate both the alleged effort by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election, as well as Trump's keeping of allegedly classified documents at his Florida residence.
But he still must outline the investigation and its findings in his report to Garland, who will then decide whether to share it publicly.
Notably, Garland has opted to release the reports from two other special counsels whose investigations concluded during his tenure — publishing both the summary reports submitted by John Durham, who was tapped by then-Attorney General Bill Barr in 2019 to review law enforcement and intelligence gathering during the 2016 presidential campaign and the origins of the Trump-Russia probe, as well as the final report from Robert Hur, a former U.S. attorney whom he tapped in 2023 to investigate President Biden's handling of classified documents.
These reports were made public at the same time as they were shared with members of Congress. It is unclear whether Garland will move to do the same with Smith's findings, given their sensitivity and Trump's status as president-elect.
Fox News' Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report.