DoJ may release report on Trump’s efforts to overturn 2020 election. But it's not as easy as it looks

The Department of Justice announced on Wednesday that US Attorney General Merrick Garland intends to release the first part of the highly-anticipated special counsel report into US President-elect Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. However, the department stated that the AG would withhold the second part of the report which deals with Trump’s retention of classified documents.

It was stated that the full report formulated by Special Counsel Jack Smith would be made available to the top Democrat and Republican on the House and Senate judiciary committees as long as the lawmakers agree to keep the second part confidential as well. The exact moment when the first part of the report will become public remains unclear.

It is pertinent to note that the report is temporarily blocked by a court order issued by the federal judge who presided in the documents case. The DoJ expressed the intention to make the report public in a court filing challenging the order. However, the move to disclose the report still faces several hurdles.

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The challenges that come with it

Even if the court rules in favour of the release of the report, Trump is expected to make his final complaint to the US Supreme Court. His team would try to buy time so that they could discard the report after he assumed the Oval Office.

Ever since the Republican firebrand won the 2024 race against Vice President Kamala Harris, the possibility of the case going to trial has come to an end. Hence, Smith has been preparing a final report into the Trump cases and their charging decisions, as is required under the special counsel regulations at the end of a case.

The confidential report first gets sent to the US attorney general, who has the power to decide how it is made public. In the past, Garland has pledged to publish at least some parts of the report. Meanwhile, Trump’s lawyers, including Todd Blanche who has been tapped by Trump to be his incoming deputy attorney general, reviewed a draft version of the report over the weekend in Washington and took issue with its findings and its very existence.

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The lawyers also objected to the fact that Smith was even allowed to complete the report and asked the AG to fire him from his post. If Garland disagrees and Smith produces a report, the decision on whether it should become public should be left to the incoming attorney general, the lawyers suggested.

With inputs from agencies.