WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland does not plan to publicly release a portion of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigative report related to President-elect Donald Trump’s retention of classified records, the Justice Department revealed in a court filing on Wednesday.
In the filing made in an Atlanta-based federal appeals court, the department said Smith has completed his two-volume report on Trump, and that Garland intends for now to publicly release only the first section related to Trump’s efforts to subvert the 2020 presidential election.
In its filing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, the department’s attorneys said that Garland decided to keep the second half of the report under wraps for now because criminal proceedings are continuing against Trump’s two other co-defendants, Waltine Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, who worked for Trump.
“For the time being, volume two will be made available for in camera review only by the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees upon their request and agreement not to release any information from volume two publicly,” the department’s attorneys explained to the court.
“This limited disclosure will further the public interest in keeping congressional leadership apprised of a significant matter within the Department while safeguarding defendants’ interests,” they added.
Special Counsel Jack Smith had previously filed historic criminal charges against Trump in two separate cases.
In one case, Smith charged Trump with illegally retaining classified records after departing the White House in January 2021 and trying to obstruct the government’s efforts to get them returned.
In the second case, Trump was accused of trying to obstruct the government from certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
The Justice Department recently abandoned both prosecutions against Trump, citing its longstanding policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Andrew Goudsward; Editing by William Maclean)
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