DOJ asks to release part of Trump investigations report

The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday asked a federal appeals court for permission to release details about an investigation of President-elect Donald Trump for dismissed allegations of election interference.

Special Counsel Jack Smith has sent a two-volume report on his dual investigations of Trump to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, the DOJ wrote in its Wednesday morning court filing. Smith was tasked with investigating Trump for two federal cases, alleged election interference and alleged mishandling of classified documents. Both cases have since been dismissed.

The filing Wednesday came in response to a request by Trump’s former co-defendants in the classified documents case, Waltine Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira. Lawyers for the two men asked the court to halt publication of Smith’s report. Trump’s legal team also argued to Cannon that the report should not be released. On Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon instructed the DOJ not to release the report while an appeals court was reviewing Nauta and De Oliveira’s request.

What is this report about, exactly? One of the two volumes of the report pertained to Smith’s investigation of Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, the DOJ said. The attorney general should still be allowed to release that report to the public for the sake of transparency, the DOJ said in its filing. The report’s other volume pertained to Smith’s investigation into Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents. That portion of the report could remain under wraps while Waltine Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira were still facing the possibility of a jury trial, the DOJ said.

Dig deeper: Read my report in The Sift from yesterday about the legal battle over the report’s release.