A federal appeals court rejected a bid to block the release of a portion of special counsel Jack Smith’s final report detailing his investigation and prosecution of President-elect Trump’s alleged 2020 election interference and alleged improper retention of classified records.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit denied a request from Walt Nauta, an aide to Trump, and Carlos de Oliveira, the former property manager at Mar-a-Lago, who were charged with obstructing a separate federal investigation into Trump’s handling of sensitive government records.
The court left a three-day hold on DOJ’s release of the report.
Smith was tapped by Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2022 to investigate the alleged effort by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election and Trump’s alleged possession of classified documents at his Florida home.
Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges. Nauta and de Oliveira also pleaded not guilty to federal charges that alleged they conspired to obstruct the FBI investigation into classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago.
