According to newly released notes of a December 27, 2020 phone call between then-President Donald Trump, acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, and acting deputy attorney general Richard Donoghue, Trump pressured the DOJ officials to help him stay in power by declaring the election “corrupt.”
During the call, Trump falsely declared the election “illegal” and “corrupt” even after the Justice Department had not uncovered evidence of widespread voter fraud.
“Just say that the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me and the R. Congressmen,” Trump said on the call, according to Donoghue’s notes.
Donoghue’s contemporaneous notes were provided to the House Oversight Committee from call the Trump held with Rosen and Donoghue, who took over the top spots at DOJ in the final weeks of Trump’s presidency.
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Donoghue’s notes show how Trump continued to push false claims of voter fraud in several states. Trump said that “people are angry” and blaming the Justice Department for inaction, suggesting that — blaming DOJ + for inaction.”
“We have an obligation to tell people that this was an illegal, corrupt election,” Trump said, according to the notes.
Rosen and Donoghue’s pushed back, telling Trump “We are doing our job. Much of the info you’re getting is false,” according to Donoghue’s notes. The notes included a reference to Trump’s false claim that the error rate of ballot counting in Michigan was 68%, when in fact it was 0.0063%, or one-in-15,000.
“You guys may not be following the internet the way I do,” Trump said, according to the notes.
The notes are the latest evidence of Trump’s efforts to pressure the Justice Department to support his false claims of election fraud as he tried to overturn his November loss to Joe Biden. Those efforts are now the subject of a new House select committee that’s investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol carried out by pro-Trump supporters to try to stop the certification of Biden’s election win, in addition to the House Oversight Committee’s investigation into Trump’s baseless election fraud claims.
Read Donoghue’s notes below:
