President-elect’s attorneys ask attorney general to stop release of outgoing special counsel Jack Smith’s report
Good morning, US politics blog readers. Donald Trump may be less than two weeks away from returning to the White House, but his lawyers are keeping busy with motions to frustrate the final developments in his lingering criminal cases. Yesterday, they asked New York judge Juan Merchan to delay the president-elect’s sentencing on the 34 felony business fraud charges he was convicted of last year, but their motion was denied and the hearing is expected to take place on Friday. The case, brought by the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, was the only one of Trump’s four criminal indictments to go to trial before his election victory in November. His prosecution in Georgia for allegedly meddling in the state’s election result four years ago has stalled, likely permanently, while special counsel Jack Smith dropped the charges he brought against Trump for allegedly hiding classified documents, and plotting to overturn the 2020 election.
However, justice department regulations mandate that Smith release a report at the end of his investigations, which could bring to light damaging evidence about Trump’s actions. Late yesterday, the president-elect’s attorneys asked outgoing attorney general Merrick Garland to delay the report’s release. We’ll let you know if Garland makes his response known today.
Here’s what else is going on:
Donald Trump Jr is scheduled to arrive in Greenland today, the massive island that his father has talked about the United States buying from Denmark. We’ll see how that visit goes.
Jimmy Carter will lie in state at the US Capitol today, with Kamala Harris laying a wreath on his casket and eulogizing him at 4.30pm ET.
The House of Representatives will vote on the Laken Riley Act, an early step in the forthcoming Republican crackdown on undocumented immigrants that would mandate they be taken into custody by immigration authorities over theft charges.
