After nearly two years of President-elect Donald Trump calling legal cases against him “election interference,” his victory in the 2024 election (and a broadly defined “presidential immunity” Supreme Court decision) places him virtually out of reach of the Courts.
Now Trump wants to prevent the release of Special Counsel Jack Smith‘s reports on those criminal investigations. This time Trump’s lawyers are not leaning on “election interference” (he won), but cite an attempt by the DOJ to illegally “interfere with the presidential transition” — i.e., transition interference — a purported violation the Presidential Transition Act.
[Trump’s “election interference” claim was effective even as it proved literally to be wrong, as the cases against Trump brought by the DOJ, Fulton County, Georgia, and New York state were widely seen as having helped — not hindered — Trump election prospects. Trump effectively — for his base — portrayed the cases as “witch hunts,” raising both money and opposition based on them, campaigning as a victim and a martyr.]
BREAKING: 11th Circuit denies request to block Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report on Trump’s indictments. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s injunction against the release of the report expires in 3 days, barring any further legal actions: www.democracydocket.com/wp-content/u…
— Democracy Docket (@democracydocket.com) January 9, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Smith turned up a lot of evidence in his investigations, and even though he dropped the cases after Trump won the election, Special Counsel’s reports are customarily released to the public that funded them, even if no charges are brought.
(See Special Counsel Robert Hur‘s report on Joe Biden, famous for remarks about Biden’s mental state — “an elderly man with a poor memory.”)
Trump understands perhaps better than anyone that the court of public opinion is where power is won and lost, even more than in the courts of law — and he recognizes the release of the report could damage his standing in the all-important people’s court, hence the desire to block it.
— Quadcarl (@quadcarl_carl) January 7, 2025
Judge Aileen Cannon temporarily blocked the release of Smith’s classified documents report, which Trump — speaking below — appreciated.
Trump: [Jack Smith] will do a 500 page report and it will be a fake report like the investigation was fake… if they’re not allowed to issue to the report, that’s the way it should be. Why should he be allowed to write a fake report? pic.twitter.com/kxgdfe6L3L
— Acyn (@Acyn) January 7, 2025
But with the 11th Circuit’s decision on Thursday that it should be released despite defense requests to block it, the Smith’s report could come out as early as Sunday — before the Trump administration moves in and new DOJ leadership, replacing Attorney General Merrick Garland, buries it.
Garland had already told Congress on Wednesday that he planned — “when permitted by the court to do so” — to release the parts of Smith’s work concerned with the DOJ’s election subversion case against Trump. The 11th Circuit’s decision, experts say, means Garland could release all of Smith’s reporting on both cases, which is expected to be heavily redacted.