Democrats Make Final Plea to Merrick Garland to Do Whatever it Takes to Release Jack Smith Report

Democrats in the House Judiciary Committee are pressuring Attorney General Merrick Garland to do whatever is necessary to release the report by Special Counsel Jack Smith on President-elect Donald Trump's handling of classified documents.

The plea includes the suggestion that charges against Trump's codefendants in the case could be dropped if they stand in the way of releasing the document. "It is essential that the American people and Congress understand how Mr. Trump mishandled our nation's most sensitive classified information, especially because he will be sworn in as Commander-in-Chief and take leadership of our national security apparatus in just five days," reads a passage of the letter signed by the group led by Ranking Member Jamie Raskin.

Garland had suggested that he could maintain the report secret partly to protect the integrity of the investigation against the co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos DeOlivera. However, the letter says that "to the extent the tangential charges against Mr. Nauta and Mr. DeOlivera stand in the way of the overriding imperative of transparency and truth, the interests of justice demand that their cases be dismissed now so the entirety of Special Counsel Smith's report can be released to the American people."

Florida Judge Aileen Cannon had dismissed the case ruling that Smith had been illegally appointed, but the DOJ was looking to reinstate the case when Trump was elected president. Smith consequently dismissed the cases following a longstanding policy of not investigating seating presidents.

Trump was investigated for holding large amounts of classified documents in his Mar-a-Lago estate and attempting to hide them when federal officials sought to reclaim them.

Smith did release the report on Trump's effort to overturn the 2020 election result, saying he would have been convicted if he hadn't won the election.

The US Department of Justice's "view that the Constitution prohibits the continued indictment and prosecution of a President is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the Government's proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the Office stands fully behind," the report said.

"Indeed, but for Mr. Trump's election and imminent return to the Presidency, the (Special Counsel's) Office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial."

Republicans are hinting at the possibility of calling Smith to testify over his investigations, with House Judiciary Committee chair Jim Jordan saying "everything is on the table."

Jordan has repeatedly made such statements, even sending a letter to Smith's office before he resigned asking that all records related to his investigations into Trump be preserved.