DOJ pushing to keep Trump from blocking release of classified docs report on immunity grounds

Using President-elect Donald Trump's claim of presidential immunity to prevent members of Congress from viewing special counsel Jack Smith's final report on Trump's alleged retention of classified documents would be a "significant and unprecedented extension" of the Supreme Court's presidential immunity doctrine, federal prosecutors told a federal judge in Florida on Thursday.

Justice Department lawyers urged U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to reject Trump's request to block the release of the report -- which she is set to consider at an afternoon hearing on Friday -- because Trump failed to provide a legal authority for a Florida judge to block members of Congress from seeing the report.

"The President-elect cites no authority for the proposition that immunity shields the President-elect from the mere review, by the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the Department's committees of jurisdiction, of a report regarding his conduct," the DOJ's filing said.

Trump pleaded not guilty in 2023 to 40 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials after leaving the White House, after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to return hundreds of documents containing classified information and took steps to thwart the government's efforts to get the documents back.

Judge Cannon dismissed the case in July based on the constitutionality of Smith's appointment, and Smith dropped Trump from his appeal of the case after the election due to a longstanding Department of Justice policy prohibiting the prosecution of a sitting president.

Because Trump is no longer a party in the case, prosecutors argued in Thursday's filing that he should not be permitted to intervene in the matter to block the report, suggesting that the correct course would be for Trump to file a lawsuit against the DOJ.

"If the President-elect seeks to enjoin actions by the Department of Justice, to be taken outside of the prosecution of this case, he has a remedy -- a civil lawsuit against the Department seeking relief," lawyers told Cannon, who earlier this week cleared the way for the release of Smith's report on his election interference case against Trump.