WASHINGTON, Jan 7, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Donald Trump is seeking to block the public release of a report by special counsel Jack Smith about his investigation that led to criminal charges against the former and now future president.

Both cases were dismissed after Trump won the November presidential election but Smith has been preparing a final report for Attorney General Merrick Garland summarizing his findings.

Trump, 78, was accused of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden and removing large quantities of top secret documents after leaving the White House.

The cases never came to trial, however, and Smith dropped them after the election citing a long-standing Justice Department policy of not indicting or prosecuting a sitting president.

Trump's attorneys, in a letter to Garland on Monday, demanded that Smith "terminate all efforts toward the preparation and release" of his final report on the cases against Trump, who is to be sworn in as the 47th US president on January 20.

"Rather than acknowledging, as he must, President Trump's complete exoneration, Smith now seeks to disseminate an extrajudicial 'Final Report' to perpetuate his false and discredited accusations," they said.
"Smith's proposed plan for releasing a report is unlawful, undertaken in bad faith, and contrary to the public interest," they added.

Releasing the report "would be nothing more than a lawless political stunt, designed to politically harm President Trump," his attorneys said.
Two of the attorneys who sent the letter to Garland -- Todd Blanche and Emil Bove -- have been named by the president-elect to high-ranking positions in his Justice Department.

- Garland to decide on release -

In a court motion on Tuesday, Smith said the special counsel's office was working on a two-volume confidential report to Garland explaining their prosecution decisions.

"The Attorney General will decide whether any portion of the report should be released to the public," Smith said.

Garland allowed the release last year of a report by another special counsel, Robert Hur, into Biden's handling of classified documents while vice president.

Hur declined to file any charges against Biden but in a politically damaging aside described him as an "elderly man with a poor memory."

Trump was accused by Smith of conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding -- the session of Congress called to certify Biden's win, which was violently attacked on January 6, 2021 by a mob of the then-president's supporters.

Trump was also accused of seeking to disenfranchise voters with his false claims that he won the 2020 election.

Trump additionally faced two state cases -- in New York and Georgia.
He was convicted in New York in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election to stop her from revealing an alleged 2006 sexual encounter.

Sentencing in that case has been set for Friday but Judge Juan Merchan has said he is not inclined to impose jail time.

In Georgia, Trump faces racketeering charges over his efforts to subvert the 2020 election results, but that case will likely be frozen while he is in office.