Former co-defendants of Trump persist in efforts to prevent the release of Jack Smith's final report.

 The injunction preventing the Attorney General from releasing the report is scheduled to expire today.

As the court injunction preventing U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland from releasing special counsel Jack Smith's final report on investigations into Donald Trump is set to expire today, attorneys for Trump's former co-defendants are urging the judge in their classified documents case to block its release.

In an overnight filing, attorneys for Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira renewed their request to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to extend her order barring the release of Smith's final report. The report encompasses both his investigation into classified documents and his probe into election interference. They also called for a hearing to consider permanently prohibiting its publication.

"The Government, driven by political priorities that have no place in a criminal trial, is attempting to bypass established procedures and force its agenda through an orderly judicial process," the lawyers stated.

Last week, Judge Cannon issued an injunction temporarily blocking the release of the entire report, which includes the first volume on the January 6 case and the second volume on the classified documents case, as the Justice Department prepared for its public release. Attorney General Merrick Garland has since pledged to provide the classified documents volume to top members of Congress and to make it publicly available. According to a DOJ filing over the weekend, this volume has no bearing on the evidence or charges against Trump's former co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira. However, the co-defendants continue to advocate against the release of either volume.

In an overnight filing, defense attorneys argued that Special Counsel Jack Smith was unconstitutionally appointed, claiming the report was "prepared unlawfully" and asserting that the two cases are "inextricably intertwined." They also questioned the DOJ's representations in its recent filing and accused the government of engaging in "political gamesmanship."

"The Government appears to be doing everything it can to skip steps in the required process, in the name of a feigned emergency," the filing stated.

In 2023, Trump pleaded not guilty to 40 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials after leaving the White House. Prosecutors allege he repeatedly refused to return hundreds of classified documents and took steps to obstruct the government's efforts to retrieve them from his Mar-a-Lago estate. Trump, along with Nauta and De Oliveira, also pleaded not guilty in a superseding indictment alleging they attempted to delete surveillance footage at Mar-a-Lago.

In 2023, Trump also pleaded not guilty to separate charges alleging his involvement in a "criminal scheme" to overturn the results of the 2020 election in an attempt to undermine democracy and stay in power.

Both cases were dismissed after Trump’s reelection in November, in accordance with a longstanding Justice Department policy that prohibits prosecuting a sitting president.

Special prosecutor Smith resigned on Friday after concluding the cases and submitting his final report to Attorney General Garland.