House Judiciary Democrats pressed Attorney General Merrick Garland to consider ending the prosecution of President-elect Trump’s two co-defendants in the Mar-a-Lago documents case as a way to speed the release of special counsel Jack Smith’s report on the matter.
The letter from Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on panel, comes as that volume of Smith’s report remains sealed amid a court battle that could keep it concealed beyond the Inauguration.
While the Justice Department has dropped all charges against Trump, their prosecution of his two co-defenders remains ongoing, and whether the Justice Department can even share the volume of the report with Judiciary lawmakers is being mulled by Judge Aileen Cannon in a Friday hearing.
“As Attorney General, it is incumbent upon you to take all necessary steps to ensure the report is released before the end of your tenure, including, if necessary, by simply dismissing the remaining criminal charges against Mr. Trump’s co-conspirators, Waltine Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira,” Raskin wrote in a letter also spearheaded by Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.).
“The American people now deserve the opportunity to read Volume 2 of Special Counsel Smith’s report, which explains how President Trump knowingly retained hundreds of presidential and highly classified records at his Mar-a-Lago club and then deliberately defied subpoenas, obstructed law enforcement, hid evidence, and lied about his continuing retention of these records. It is in the very nature of American democracy that the people have a right to know of the public actions of their public officials.”
DOJ confirmed receipt of the letter but declined to comment.
The volume lawmakers are referencing is one of two produced by Smith. Though Trump’s legal team also fought the release of that volume, Cannon allowed for its release early Tuesday morning after initially blocking its distribution.
In court filings, Garland indicated he would not release the Mar-a-Lago report at Smith’s advice to avoid any risk of prejudice in the ongoing cases.
But he also said he would allow Judiciary leaders from both chambers to review the report, adding in a letter to lawmakers that “once those criminal proceedings have concluded, releasing Volume Two of the Report to you and to the public would also be in the public interest.”
The frustration for Democrats is that the case against Nauta and de Oliveira will surely be short-lived. Trump’s incoming Justice Department leaders are all but certain to drop the case once Trump has been sworn in.
While that would theoretically clear the DOJ to release the Trump Mar-a-Lago report, Trump’s Justice Department leaders are instead likely to shelve it, sealing it from the public.
“To the extent that such a decision to dismiss these cases might encourage these defendants to keep enabling the corruption of their superiors, those concerns are outweighed by the many indications that Mr. Trump will simply end the prosecutions against his co-conspirators upon taking office anyway and then instruct his DOJ to permanently bury this report,” the lawmakers wrote.
