"Those facts will be forthcoming to all of you in due course," Obama said at the news conference. "We just want to make sure we're not interfering with an ongoing and active investigation."
Fitzgerald released a statement backing up Obama's account that a delay had been requested.
"After the president-elect announced an internal transition team investigation, the United States attorney's office requested a brief delay of the release of a report of that investigation to conduct certain interviews," Fitzgerald said in the statement.
One former Justice Department official said prosecutors often wanted to control what was publicly known about the statements of witnesses.
"Information may be released about what one witness says that could compromise the effectiveness of interview or grand jury testimony of other parties to that conversation," said George Terwilliger, a former deputy attorney general.
"Prosecutors never want somebody else mucking around in what they're doing and releasing the results of their own inquiries, whether it's a private company, the Congress or, in this case, a political operation," he said.
Political strategists said the delay would be helpful to Obama, moving the release of new information into a week when people will be more focused on Christmas.
"From a public relations standpoint, it mitigates the exposure somewhat," said Thom Serafin, a Chicago-based political and media advisor. "The unfortunate thing for the president-elect right now is that he's operating out of Chicago, which is ground zero right now."
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cparsons@tribune.com
