Lawyers for President-elect Donald Trump sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday, asking him to prevent Special Counsel Jack Smith from releasing his final reports on the election interference and classified documents cases. The special counsel must provide a report to Garland, despite the dismissal of both cases.
Garland will decide whether to make the report public.
According to the letter and a legal filing, Trump’s lawyers and two former co-defendants in the documents case viewed a two-volume draft copy of the report over the weekend. They called the report “one-sided” and “slanted.”
In the letter, Trump’s lawyer requested Garland fire Smith. However, Smith said he’d resign before Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.
If Smith doesn’t release the report before his resignation, he risks Trump’s incoming attorney general, Pam Bondi, deciding on the report’s release.
The lawyers for Trump’s two former co-defendants in the documents case also asked the judge who dismissed the case to halt the report’s release, citing her ruling that Smith’s appointment was unconstitutional.
While it is not clear when the report will be released, the lawyers asked the judge for a hearing on their request by Friday, Jan. 10, believing the release is “imminent.”
