House Republicans are decrying Attorney General Merrick Garland’s decision to publish special counsel Jack Smith’s report on President-elect Donald Trump, calling it a “cheap political stunt” after the Biden administration official refused to release materials related to the current president.
The Justice Department revealed on Wednesday that Garland plans to publish Smith’s final report on Trump investigating his involvement in efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election while he was still in office. However, Garland has decided not to release a second volume of the report investigating Trump’s handling of classified documents that were found at his Mar-a-Lago resort after leaving office in 2021.
Trump’s attorneys have pushed against releasing any reports from Smith, arguing the president-elect is “no longer a defendant in any Special Counsel matter,” according to a court filing submitted this week. Both cases were dismissed late last year after Trump won the November election.
But Republican lawmakers have called foul on the decision, accusing Smith of making a politically calculated decision days before Trump is sworn in.
“If Garland actually cared to uphold the Constitution and protect the office of President, his department would have released the transcript from Special Counsel Hur’s interview of Joe Biden,” Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) told the Washington Examiner. “The radical Left’s witch hunt against President Trump accomplished nothing except waste time and taxpayer dollars.”
Republicans sought for months for Garland to release interview tapes between Hur and Biden’s memoir ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer as part of Hur’s investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents. However, those efforts were thwarted after Hur concluded not to press charges and Biden asserted executive privilege over the materials.
Garland requested that Biden assert his privilege, arguing the committee’s request was “plainly insufficient to outweigh the deleterious effects that production of the recordings would have on the integrity and effectiveness of similar law enforcement investigations in the future.”
However, the new rules package for the 119th Congress paved the way for the House Judiciary Committee to subpoena Garland related to Hur’s investigation — with some lawmakers suggesting they will push for their release.
“Merrick Garland is leaving behind a disgraceful legacy of corruption,” Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) said. “[Until] the very end, he has weaponized and politicized the DOJ—solely focused on upholding a two-tiered system of justice dangerously slanted against President Trump and his supporters. Republicans must deliver answers and accountability to the American people—starting with the release of the Hur tapes.”
Some political strategists have pointed out key differences between Hur’s and Smith’s investigations — including the fact that Trump was pressed with charges while Biden was not.
But, one political strategist told the Washington Examiner this decision could pave the way for Congress to begin pushing back on presidents asserting executive privilege, regardless of which party, to “demand accountability.” However, that could lead to more seemingly partisan investigations and inquiries, the strategist said, which aren’t a new phenomena in Congress.
“I think the dam has probably already been broken with regard to partisan investigations from Congress against presidents, and that this dam broke long ago as a result of both parties’ actions under the last few presidential administrations,” Charles Hunt, political science professor with the University of Boise, told the Washington Examiner. “I think a belief that Garland is overstepping here is totally reasonable, but ultimately, whether the next Congress opts for political retribution and partisan investigations is entirely up to them.”
Meanwhile, some Democrats have blamed Garland for waiting too long to appoint Smith, a move they say led to Trump running out the clock on federal prosecutions and escaping accountability.
“Garland only started the prosecution after he was in effect forced to by the report of the Jan. 6 committee and the criminal referral,” former House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) told HuffPost. “The evidence the Jan. 6 committee used was available from the beginning.”
“Had they proceeded with those prosecutions, I think he would have been convicted and we’d have a different president now,” Nadler said. “Merrick Garland wasted a year.”
Other Democrats have praised Garland’s decision to release part of Smith’s report, but have pushed the attorney general to make his second investigation into Trump’s classified documents available as well.
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“It’s good that AG Garland plans to release part of the Jack Smith insurrection report & I hope it’s redacted as little as possible,” Rep. Steven Cohen (D-TN) said in a post on X. “But he should also release the report on the classified documents case. Judge Cannon shouldn’t continue to be a blocking back for her golden boy tailback, Donald Trump.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Justice Department for comment.
