'Essential to the rule of law': Why Dems want Garland to stop prosecuting Trump codefendants

16 January

With just four days left atop the Department of Justice (DOJ), outgoing Attorney General Merrick Garland is still pursuing federal charges against two of President-elect Donald Trump's co-defendants in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case. Now, Democrats are asking him to drop those two cases.

CBS News reported Thursday that Democratic members of the House Oversight Committee recently sent a letter to Garland asking him to stop prosecuting Waltine Nauta — Trump's body man (the term for a personal aide to an elected official) — and former Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos de Oliveira. In the letter, Democrats argued that Garland should use his remaining few days as attorney general to make volume two of DOJ special counsel Jack Smith's report public, rather than withhold it from publication due to the two outstanding cases.

"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," they wrote.

"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," the letter continued. "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."

The DOJ's two felony cases against Trump have already been dismissed, with U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon (a Trump appointee) dismissing the classified documents case and Smith dropping the 2020 election interference case after Trump was elected to a second term. And as president, Trump could order his attorney general to dismiss any criminal prosecutions left over from President Joe Biden's administration. This means the two cases against Nauta and de Oliveira are almost certainly going to be dismissed not long after Trump is sworn in on Monday. Even if Trump's attorney general doesn't dismiss those cases and allows them to continue, Trump could still pardon them if they're convicted.

Additionally, Democrats argued that if the second volume of Smith's report hasn't been released by the time Trump takes power, it's likely the report will never see the light of day. They wrote: "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."

The Mar-a-Lago case was widely considered to be the strongest against the president-elect, given the wealth of evidence the DOJ obtained in its 2022 raid on Trump's Palm Beach County estate. Trump was indicted on 37 felony counts related to the alleged mishandling of sensitive classified documents — a first for any former president.

Read the full letter below, or by clicking this link.

Letter to Attorney General ... by CBSNews.com

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