Trump Requests Merrick Garland Not Release Final Special Counsel Report

The president-elect's lawyers said they had a chance to review the document prepared by Jack Smith between Jan. 3 and 6.

Lawyers for Donald Trump on Monday called on Attorney General Merrick Garland to block the release of a report authored by special counsel Jack Smith detailing his findings in the Justice Department’s two criminal cases against the president-elect, which could be made public as soon as this week.

In a letter addressed to Garland on behalf of Trump, the president-elect’s attorneys shared Trump’s demand to terminate the preparation and release of Smith’s report.

His lawyers said they had a chance to go over the document in person in a conference room at Smith’s office in Washington, D.C., between Friday and Monday, but complained about not being allowed to use the internet or access their electronic devices during the review.

“It is clear, as has been the case with so many of the other actions of Smith and his staff, that the Draft Report merely continues Smith’s politically-motivated attack, and that his continued preparation of the Report and efforts to release it would be both imprudent and unlawful,” they wrote.

As part of their arguments for urging Garland to stop publication of the document, Trump’s attorneys said Smith lacks the constitutional authority to issue the report because he was not properly appointed to the special counsel role, referring to Judge Aileen Cannon’s ruling in the classified documents case earlier this summer. Cannon dismissed the case, saying that Smith’s appointment as special counsel was unconstitutional.