PoliticsDOJ Vows to Release Donald Trump January 6 Probe in New Filing
President-elect Donald Trump goes to war with the Department of Justice.
The Department of Justice responded after Judge Aileen Cannon blocked the release of Special Counsel Jack Smith's report on President-elect Donald Trump's axed criminal cases.
It's been reported Attorney General Merrick Garland is planning to appeal the court's decision and release a volume on the January 6 probe against Trump.
Attorney General Merrick Garland is planning to release the probe into Donald Trump.
Cannon issued a temporary order blocking the release of Smith's report outside of the Justice Department, pending an appeal by the former president's co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, on Tuesday, January 7.
By Wednesday, the DOJ filed a response asking the 11th Circuit to "vacate" Cannon's order. They also vowed to release the January 6 report while holding off on the classified documents case until the Nauta and De Oliveira appeals are decided.
Donald Trump has plead not guilty to the charges levied against him.
In the filing, the DOJ laid out the Attorney General's plans for the report and wrote: "The Special Counsel has already transmitted his Final Report to the Attorney General (as permitted by the district court's recent order). The Final Report comprises two volumes. Volume One relates to the Special Counsel's investigation and prosecution of President Donald Trump relating to the 2020 presidential election (Election Case)."
"Volume Two relates to the Special Counsel's investigation and prosecution of defendants Waltine Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, as well as President Trump, relating to mishandling of classified documents (Classified Documents Case)," it continued. "The Attorney General intends to release Volume One to Congress and the public consistent with 28 C.F.R. § 600.9(c) and in furtherance of the public interest in informing a co-equal branch and the public regarding this significant matter. But to avoid any risk of prejudice to defendants Nauta and De Oliveira, the Attorney General has determined, at the recommendation of the Special Counsel, that he will not publicly release Volume Two so long as the defendants' criminal proceedings remain.
"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."
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Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election.
The filing went on to call Nauta and De Oliveira's appeals "meritless" and "irrelevant."
"There is no basis for defendants or anyone else to seek to bar the Attorney General from disclosing Volume One publicly (or to Congress) or from disclosing Volume Two to select members of Congress in the manner described above," the filing added. "The Court should deny the emergency motion, vacate the district court's temporary injunction, and make clear that there is no basis for further emergency litigation in the district court regarding the Attorney General's disposition of the Special Counsel's Final Report."
Donald Trump was already found guilty of 34 criminal charges in New York.
Nauta and De Oliveira, backed by Trump, had argued to both Cannon and the appeals court that releasing the report would unfairly prejudice them because the criminal case against them could still proceed.
They have both pleaded not guilty.
