Garland hands over special counsel report on Trump and 2020 election subversion to Congress
CNN
Attorney General Merrick Garland early Tuesday provided Congress special counsel Jack Smith’s report on his investigation into Donald Trump and efforts to overturn the 2020 election, according to a source familiar, after a court hold blocking its release expired at midnight.
Attorney General Merrick Garland early Tuesday provided Congress special counsel Jack Smith’s report on his investigation into Donald Trump and efforts to overturn the 2020 election, according to a source familiar, after a court hold blocking its release expired at midnight. It is expected that part of Smith’s report will soon be released publicly, and it will be the special counsel’s final official word on his investigation into the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, and the actions by Trump and his associates before then to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power. Smith brought four charges against Trump in the 2020 election probe. But the case suffered setbacks culminating in the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling last summer that set a very high bar for prosecuting a former president for his conduct in office. The special counsel dropped the case against Trump altogether after voters in November decided to return him to the White House. The transmission of Smith’s January 6 findings came after the president-elect and his allies were unable to stop the department from releasing it. Their court maneuverings did, however, slow its release as the clock ticks toward the January 20 inauguration, as well as upend the department’s plans to release volume two of the report, which covers the classified documents investigation. Garland does not intend to release that portion of the report publicly, but he had planned to allow a very small group of lawmakers to view it behind closed doors. US District Judge Aileen Cannon, however, extended an order that prevents him from sharing that volume to anyone outside of the department. A hearing on the matter is set for later this week. This is a developing story and will be updated.