Special counsel Jack Smith‘s final report into the criminal cases against President-elect Donald Trump has been blocked from release after the president’s lawyers launched a last-ditch effort to prevent its publication.
In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland sent Monday, Trump’s lawyers said they were allowed to review Smith’s report in the criminal case in which Trump was charged with conspiring to keep classified documents after he left office.
They threatened legal action if it is released, noting Smith’s findings include strongly worded allegations that Trump “engaged in an unprecedented criminal effort” and describe him as “the head of the criminal conspiracies.”
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Trump’s lawyers argued Smith’s report amounts to little more than a “politically-motivated attack” and that making public his findings in the classified documents case or an election interference case Smith also pursue would illegally interfere with Trump’s presidential transition.
To that end, they said Smith’s findings contain “baseless attacks on other anticipated members of President Trump’s incoming administration, which are an obvious effort to interfere with upcoming confirmation hearings.”
With the cases against Trump dismissed, the final report constitutes Smith’s last chance to lay out the details of what he found during his investigation.Special counsels have to submit reports on their findings, according to Justice Department rules, and attorneys general from both parties have released them to the public in recent years—Robert Mueller’s report that alleged ties between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia being a notable example.
“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 harm President Trump,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.
Meanwhile, Trump’s former co-defendants in the Florida classified documents case launched their own effort Monday to block the release of Smith’s report.
Lawyers acting for Walt Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira—two Trump employees who were accused of assisting his alleged obstruction of the federal investigation into classified documents he kept at his private Mar-a-Lago estate—asked U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to bar Smith from issuing his report until the case “has reached a final judgment and appellate proceedings are concluded.”
Cannon on Tuesday ruled on their behalf and ordered Smith not to release the report until the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals has time to review the co-defendants emergency motion.
Cannon, a Trump appointee, ruled Smith’s appointment was unconstitutional and dismissed the charges in July 2024.
Nauta and de Oliveira’s lawyers argued releasing the report would violate their clients’ rights, as prosecutors launched an appeal to reinstate charges against them. Smith’s team withdrew from the appeal and referred the case to federal prosecutors in Florida last month.
