Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are urging Attorney General Merrick Garland to consider dropping the federal charges against Donald Trump’s former co-defendants in the classified documents case, Walt Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira, to ensure that the Justice Department can release the rest of special counsel Jack Smith‘s final report about Trump’s alleged crimes.
Nauta, an aide to Trump, and de Oliveira, a former property manager at Mar-a-Lago, are accused of obstructing the investigation into Trump’s handling of sensitive government documents after he lost reelection in 2020. Both have pleaded not guilty.
Garland previously said he would not publicly release the second part of Smith’s report, which details the allegations in the documents case, because the proceedings involving Nauta and de Oliveira were ongoing.
In a letter to Garland Thursday morning, the committee Democrats, including Ranking Member Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Rep. Dan Goldman of New York, say the public needs to see the second half of Smith’s findings.
They write in the letter:
“The American people now deserve the opportunity to read Volume 2 of Special Counsel Smith’s report, which explains how President Trump knowingly retained hundreds of presidential and highly classified records at his Mar-a-Lago club and then deliberately defied subpoenas, obstructed law enforcement, hid evidence, and lied about his continuing retention of these records. It is in the very nature of American democracy that the people have a right to know of the public actions of their public officials, and it is essential to the rule of law that Justice Department special counsel reports continue to be available and accessible to the public. As Attorney General, it is incumbent upon you to take all necessary steps to ensure the report is released before the end of your tenure, including, if necessary, by simply dismissing the remaining criminal charges against Mr. Trump’s co-conspirators, Waltine Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira.”
On Tuesday, Garland released the first volume of Smith’s findings, which covered allegations that Trump conspired in an effort to overturn the 2020 election.
Trump slammed the report and Smith, referring to him in a social media post as “deranged” and “a lamebrain prosecutor who was unable to get his case tried before the Election, which I won in a landslide.”
The charges against Trump in the election interference case were dropped after he won the 2024 presidential election, and the documents case was dismissed by a federal judge in Florida last summer.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing.
Nauta, de Oliveira and Trump have sought to block the release of Smith’s report on the classified records case amid proceedings in Nauta and de Oliveira’s criminal cases.
The letter from committee Democrats also said, “To the extent that such a decision to dismiss these cases might encourage these defendants to keep enabling the corruption of their superiors, those concerns are outweighed by the many indications that Mr. Trump will simply end the prosecutions against his co-conspirators upon taking office anyway and then instruct his DOJ to permanently bury this report. Mr. Trump has not been secretive about his plans to weaponize the DOJ for his own personal whims and preferences.”
