At the official end of special counsel Jack Smith's term, Attorney General Merrick Garland informed Congress that he intends to make Smith's findings on the cases against Donald Trump available to committee leaders and, eventually, the public, once courts permit.

Garland stated that he thinks the report's section on the case of the classified papers should eventually be made public.

In a letter to the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees on Wednesday, Garland describes his intentions to provide them Smith's volume on the case involving the classified documents in a confidential manner and to make the volume on Trump's criminal charges of election interference in 2020 available to Congress and the public.

He would do so "when permitted to do so by the court," according to Garland.

The defendants are currently contesting the release of all sections of Smith's report, and both cases have been dismissed before any verdicts of guilt or innocence have been rendered. This is a significant change in the Justice Department's attitude to transparency that is anticipated under Trump's administration.

In the letter, Garland also states that he has never thought any of Smith's suggested courses of action were "inappropriate or unwarranted." Congress must be informed of such disagreements between the attorney general and a special counsel, but Garland stated that "no such instances occurred during Special Counsel Smith's investigation."

According to him, Garland also thinks the book Smith wrote about the case involving the sensitive papers should be made public once the criminal trials against Trump's co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira are resolved—they are now pending appeals. In order to protect the rights of the two Trump employees, the DOJ has decided to keep that volume classified at this time and only provide it to the committee leaders in private upon their request. De Oliveira and Nauta have entered not guilty pleas.

The attorney general wrote, "I have decided that, in accordance with law and Department policy, it would also be in the public interest to release Volume Two of the report to you and to the public once those criminal proceedings have concluded."

Naturally, Garland will step down as attorney general in eleven days, and once Trump assumes office, the processes for Nauta and De Oliveira are probably coming to a conclusion.

According to Justice Department standards, the letter is a required wrap-up measure at the conclusion of a special counsel's office.

However, Garland's sketch is different from others because of the ongoing legal proceedings around Trump's report, which he and his co-defendants in the case involving the sensitive papers are attempting to keep completely confidential.

As early as Thursday, a federal appeals court is anticipated to rule on Garland's disclosure plan.