Trump admin moves to dismiss FOIA lawsuit for Jack Smith's Mar-a-Lago report
Source: Law & Crime
Jun 7th, 2025, 1:16 pm
The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday filed a motion to dismiss a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit aimed at unearthing the second volume of former special counsel Jack Smith’s final report on the Mar-a-Lago investigation into President Donald Trump. The underlying litigation is a relatively terse five-page lawsuit filed in January by The New York Times and one of their reporters.
The plaintiffs accuse the DOJ of failing to make a determination for expedited processing of their FOIA request – for the second volume of the Smith report – within the timeline mandated by federal law. Now, the Trump administration, in no uncertain terms, wants to wash its hands of the matter and have the lawsuit dismissed. The filing also offers itself as, in the alternative, a motion for summary judgment.
To hear the government tell it, those same hands are tied – by an injunction issued on Jan. 21, by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon in response to an emergency motion to enjoin the release of the second volume filed by Waltine “Walt” Nauta, Trump’s personal valet, and Carlos de Oliveira, Mar-a-Lago’s chief of maintenance. The district court’s order enjoins:
Attorney General Garland or his successor(s), the Department of Justice, its officers, agents, officials, and employees, and all persons acting in active concert or participation with such individuals . . . from (a) releasing, sharing, or transmitting Volume II of the Final Report or any drafts of Volume II outside the Department of Justice, or (b) otherwise releasing, distributing, conveying, or sharing with anyone outside the Department of Justice any information or conclusions in Volume II or in drafts thereof.
And the injunction, the DOJ says, is the long and short of the case.
Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/conflicting-court-orders-trump-admin-moves-to-dismiss-foia-lawsuit-for-jack-smiths-mar-a-lago-report-because-judge-cannons-injunction-is-still-in-effect/
Full headline: ‘Conflicting court orders’: Trump admin moves to dismiss FOIA lawsuit for Jack Smith’s Mar-a-Lago report because ‘Judge Cannon’s injunction’ is still in effect
Link to MOTION (PDF viewer) - https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25966555-nyt-v-doj/
Link to MOTION (PDF viewer) - https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/25966555/nyt-v-doj.pdf
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