The Justice Department told a federal appeals court on Wednesday that Attorney General Merrick Garland intends to release the January 6-related volume of its final report of special counsel Jack Smith before Donald Trump takes office.
However, Garland does not plan to publicly release the part of Smith’s report regarding the investigation into Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents, the Justice Department said, the first formal notification of the attorney general’s intentions.
The Justice Department asked the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals to approve the plan.
“The Attorney General intends to release Volume One to Congress and the public consistent … in furtherance of the public interest in informing a co-equal branch and the public regarding this significant matter,” DOJ said in a filing.
At the moment, Garland is blocked from releasing any part of Smith’s report due to a ruling from District Judge Aileen Cannon. The Justice Department is seeking to lift the injunction as it applies to the January 6 section of the report.
Cannon on Tuesday temporarily blocked the special counsel from releasing both volumes, following a request from Trump and his former co-defendants in the classified documents case, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira. (Nauta and De Olivera have pleaded not guilty.)
Because it won’t make the part regarding Nauta and De Oliveira public, the Justice Department told the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals that the pair shouldn’t be allowed to stop the rest of the report from being released.
“There is neither any need nor legal basis for an injunction,” the DOJ wrote in a filing to an appeals court on Wednesday. … 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 defendants’ criminal proceedings remain pending.”
This story has been updated with additional developments.