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On Thursday, lawmakers going to investigate last year’s attack on the US Capitol detailed Donald Trump’s “brazen” efforts to enlist the Justice Department in his plot to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden. At the fifth hearing of its year-long investigation into the insurgency, the Legislature panel detailed Trump’s campaign pressure on officials to falsely claim that his presidency was stolen by widespread voter fraud.
“Donald Trump did not simply request that the Justice Department conduct an investigation. He wanted the Justice Department to help legitimize his lies by falsely accusing the election of being corrupt “Bennie Thompson, chairman of the committee, stated
The weekend before the January 6, 2021 insurgency, lawmakers revisited tensions among govt attorneys, when Trump attempted to install his own person at the top of the dept.
“It was an audacious attempt to use the Justice Department to further the Trump’s personal political agenda,” Thompson said.
The committee heard from Jeffrey Rosen, who took over as acting attorney general after Bill Barr stepped down and quickly became embroiled in Trump’s efforts to undermine public trust in the election.
Rosen stated that between late December 2020 and early January 2021, Trump contacted him almost daily, emphasising the intensity of Trump’s pressure on the department.
He had raised the possibility of a special counsel for election fraud at one point. “At several points, he requested that I meet with his advertising counsel, Mr. (Rudy) Giuliani,” Rosen explained.
“At one point, he raised the possibility of the Justice Department filing a lawsuit in the Supreme Court.” There were some concerns about making public statements or holding a press conference at various points.”
The DOJ investigated a flood of Trump’s electoral fraud claims, but Rosen said officials were given no evidence.
At that point, Trump started raising a little-known mid-level divisional official named Jeffrey Clark, who supported the outgoing president’s debunked theories.
