By Sarah N. Lynch and Andrew Goudsward
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department will not make public for now Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report on Donald Trump’s retention of classified records, it said on Wednesday, citing the ongoing prosecutions of two associates of the president-elect.
That portion of Smith’s report will be made available to certain members of Congress charged with judicial oversight, the department said in a filing with an Atlanta-based federal appeals court.
The department said Smith has completed his two-volume report on Trump, and that Attorney General Merrick Garland plans for now to publicly release only the first section related to Trump’s efforts to subvert the 2020 presidential election.
While the department dropped both criminal prosecutions of Trump following his November election, it is pushing ahead with a case against two other defendants, Waltine Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, who worked for Trump, over the documents.
Justice Department regulations require Smith to submit a final report at the end of his investigation.
It was unclear how much information it would contain that has yet to be disclosed in the now-dismissed criminal case Smith brought against Trump over the 2020 election and a 700-page report by a congressional panel that examined similar events.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who oversaw the classified documents case, temporarily blocked the department from releasing the report following a request from Nauta and De Oliveira.
The Justice Department said the limited disclosure of the documents report to members of congressional leadership would further the public interest while safeguarding the two remaining defendants’ interests.
U.S. prosecutors charged Trump with illegally retaining classified records after departing the White House in January 2021 and trying to obstruct the government’s efforts to get them returned.
They also accused Trump of trying to obstruct the government from certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory over Trump.
The Justice Department abandoned both prosecutions against Trump, citing its longstanding policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
Prosecutors have urged the appeals court to revive their case against Nauta and De Oliveira, who pleaded not guilty to obstruction charges. Cannon previously dismissed all charges after ruling that Smith was improperly appointed as special counsel.
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