Summary
Donald Trump’s lawyers are seeking to block the release of special counsel Jack Smith’s final report on two prosecutions, claiming it could harm the presidential transition and be seen as a political act.
The report is expected to include damaging details about Trump’s alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election and hide classified documents.
Trump’s legal team has requested that Attorney General Merrick Garland fire Smith and defer handling the report to Trump’s incoming attorney general.
Smith plans to resign before Trump’s inauguration, but the report’s release remains “imminent.”
This is another incredible unforced error.
And
So the cases against Trump were dismissed. There was no pending litigation or prosecution.
And then, for god knows what reason, the Justice department let Trump’s lawyers - Trump, a private citizen, not engaged in court action any longer on the matter - review the full report. Trump’s lawyers then went crying to their pet judge, Aileen Cannon, who almost certainly will issue an unconstitutional and superfluous injunction without a case pending. That will cause appeals, which will run out the clock until Trump is president and completely kills and buries the report.
DOJ, Smith and Garland: You should have just released the report. You have no duty to Trump. Your duty is to the American people. A GOP administration would have done it and let the courts sort it out. Play just as hard - release it and let Trump fight about it in court after it’s released - he wouldn’t have at that point. You can still do it before Cannon rules, but you just squandered your ability to do this quickly and cleanly.
Edit: Cannon did exactly as expected, blocking the release of the report:
https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/06/politics/trump-smith-special-counsel-final-report/index.html
The report appears to confirm Trump’s criminal activities and also apparently that Trump’s lawyers (who are unnamed people who are going to be appointed to the DOJ) were given a courtesy viewing to allow them to litigate - completely unnecessarily:
Generally, the incoming administration has some sway on things. Normally this is meant for things like new initiatives and programs that the new administration will want to change or update. For example, imagine a sane incoming president (I know right?)
Let’s say this incoming president wants to change how subsidies to corn producers are worked through. The USDA is slated to start their version of the subsidy a few weeks before the inauguration. Instead of stopping the program, reworking it, and then re-releasing it, they put a freeze on the program so that the new administration can put their touch to it. (IMO, our lame duck period really needs to be shortened but it’s not happening so long as power is wielded)
It was never meant for this situation. So while yes Trump is technically and legally a private citizen, he also isn’t and the current administration can’t ignore that.
My guess what happened here is that Trump received the documents as President Elect, not as the defendant. President Elect often gets the same briefings as the current President. It’s just a fucking travesty that our incoming President is a fucking criminal.
Source: I worked during the Bush to Obama transition.
Great write up.
I was saying to my wife, “I’m getting really tired of playing by the rules and losing.” So I hope they release it.
Seems like a lot of people have seen it. Let’s get a leak at least.
That’s very helpful (especially with your real experience).
Yes, in theory the DOJ’s adherence to presidential transition norms may have meant they given him an early view, except that it was presented to his “lawyers” according to the article - that sounds off for a normal transitional briefing. Not sure if your experience is different?
Either way, it’s such a shame the DOJ didn’t act more strategically. Vis a vis the litigation, his status as president-elect shouldn’t matter. This was for his personal conduct, not his official acts as president (which Smith explicitly re-drafted his charges to confirm).
My experience is limited to transitions between sane presidents who, you know, didn’t have criminal investigations let alone charges against them.
Again, assuming a sane president elect, odds are they would have received a copy of the report of “a high profile individual”.
This is uncharted territory where our incoming president has committed crimes warranting a federal investigation and charges. This alone should have been disqualifying but it is looking like for the GOP, it’s now a requirement to run for office.
The conflicts of interest have reached comical levels. I personally agree with you: Biden should have restricted the sharing of the report. After all, this is all “customary”.
Democrats are helping us slide more into fascism and they can’t be bothered to stop.
As someone who knows far more than me about these things, would you agree that appointing Garland was Biden’s biggest mistake?
Biggest mistake? No.
Garland is an albatross around Obama’s neck, not Biden’s.
We’re getting into wonky territory with some heavy backseat polititing so buckle up.
Obama nominated Garland to SCOTUS to look reasonable to the Republicans. He wanted to nominate a moderate (read: Republican light) and wanted to move Senate Republicans away from the “we can’t consider judges 18 months away from an election (but will have no problem considering judges under a Republican president when the election is mere weeks away)”.
Obama wanted to take the high road and it worked for like a minute. His base was satiated that he did the best he could. Obama, behind closed doors, said that he didn’t want to fight the Republicans.
But this was contingent on Democrats winning the White House AND Senate, which the polls at the time were showing that they would.
We of course know what happened.
Fast forward four years: Biden “felt bad” for not giving Garland a fair shake and did the best he could and nominated him as AG. I mean he was a half-joke nomination for SCOTUS. He shouldn’t have even been on the short list for AG.
Anyway, not Biden’s best decision but not his worst either.
Yeah, I knew about the McConnell and co shenanigans with the Supreme Court, and I understand why Obama did what he did and why Biden offered him the job. Garland just fucked it up so unbelievably bad. Democrat highroading needs to stop right now, but they never seem to learn their lessons.
What would you consider his worst decision? Probably running for a second term (at first) and thereby not letting a primary happen right?
Probably easiest to say running for a second term.
But for me, it was caving to republican pressure to “secure the border”.
I don’t know why Democrats have such a hard time learning that the Republicans will NEVER negotiate in good faith. He gave in too much.
You’re talking as if Garland wasn’t a Republican himself.
Garland still can. If he’s really loyal to this country, he’d release it.
Then the appeals go the other way, on whether the DoJ was really allowed to release it. But the important bit is already done.
Of Biden’s many mistakes, I think Merrick Fucking Garland was the worst.
Garland is a coward, loyal to himself/GOP
Cannon can because there are two non-dismissed cases that are referenced in the report.
The federal government is still pursuing those cases… Which is interesting, because if Trump did nothing wrong, there’s no case to pursue.
So, of course Cannon has blocked the release. At this point, Republicans win if they stall enough.
‘But trump is a member of the American population and therefore I have responsibility to him! He also just happens to be the Future POTUS and my boss! No corruption here! Checkmate Trans-Athiests!’