Nauta and De Oliveira seek to block Jack Smith's final report release as tensions escalate between Trump's legal team and Justice Department.
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Attorneys representing Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira filed a motion requesting U.S. Judge Aileen Cannon extend her temporary restraining order, which currently prevents U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland from sharing the report with House and Senate Judiciary committee leadership.
The strategic maneuver could potentially extend beyond Trump's January 20 inauguration, further delaying the report's disclosure.
"Once the Report is disclosed to Congress, this Court will effectively lose its ability to control the flow of information related to privileged and confidential matters in a criminal proceeding," wrote attorneys for Nauta, a longtime Trump aide, and De Oliveira, a Mar-a-Lago employee. "That makes delaying the issuance of the Final Report until this matter is resolved essential, as there will be no way to put the proverbial cat back into the bag after the Final Report is shared with Congress, and no way to control congressional speech regarding the pending criminal case."
Questions remain about Judge Cannon's authority to extend the restraining order following the Eleventh Circuit's decision, which left her temporary restriction as the sole barrier to the report's release. The Justice Department responded Friday by notifying Cannon of their intention to appeal her injunction.
Garland has expressed plans to provide Volume Two of the report, focusing on Trump's classified documents case, to Judiciary Committee leaders for private review when permitted, while making Volume One, concerning Trump's 2020 election challenges, publicly accessible.
Nauta and De Oliveira's legal team has requested Cannon, who previously dismissed the classified documents case, conduct a hearing to determine whether Garland should be prevented from releasing the report while the government appeals the case's dismissal.
"This Court presides over the criminal matter and is best suited to resolve the questions presented by Defendants' request for injunctive relief," the attorneys wrote.
Trump entered a not guilty plea in June 2023 to 37 criminal counts related to classified materials handling, after prosecutors alleged his repeated refusal to return hundreds of classified documents concerning U.S. nuclear secrets and defense capabilities. Trump, Nauta, and De Oliveira also pleaded not guilty to charges in a superseding indictment regarding alleged surveillance footage deletion at Mar-a-Lago.
The latest filing emerges amid growing friction between Trump's legal team and the Department of Justice. Thursday saw Trump's co-defendants suggesting DOJ violated Cannon's order through their congressional communication about Smith's completed investigation. Smith responded with a filing dismissing these claims.
"There is nothing about the government's email to counsel for President-elect Trump, the government's submission to the Eleventh Circuit, nor the Attorney General's letter to Congress that violates this Court's Order," Smith wrote.