Department of Justice (DOJ) officials reportedly dismantled a plot by former President Donald Trump to use the DOJ to help him overturned the 2020 election results by having loyalists within the department concoct bogus investigations into unfounded claims of election fraud, according to a new report released by the US Senate Judiciary Commitee on Thrusday.
The report, based on documents, emails and testimony from then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen, then-acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue and Byung Pak, who was the U.S. Attorney in Atlanta details how DOJ officials fought off Trump’s and his allies push to pressure the DOJ into overturning his election loss in the final days of his administration. The panel also released testimony from Rosen, Donoghue and Pak.”
According to the report, “former acting Civil Division Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark pushed Rosen and Donoghue to help Trump overturn the election after Clark met with Trump.”
Clark proposed that he and the other officials send letters to Georgia officials falsely claiming that the DOJ had identified “significant concerns” that could impact the election, it adds.
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He also reportedly came up with the idea of saying that he spoke with a witness who claimed he saw trucks moving ballots to a location where they would be shredded.
Donoghue and Rosen rejected Clark’s recommendation to send the letter, according to the report, which added that Trump considered replacing Rosen with Clark, but was warned that all the assistant attorneys general would resign if that happened.
In addition, the report said that former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows asked Rosen to initiate election fraud investigations in at least four categories of election fraud, including already discredited claims in Georgia.
Meadows also reportedly asked Rosen to investigate “Italygate,” which held that the CIA and Italian IT contractor used military satellites to manipulate voting machines, but he refused to investigate the theory.
And investigators found that Trump’s allies who participated in the “Stop the Steal” movement pressured the DOJ, the report said.
Specifically, it noted that Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), who led the objection to counting Pennsylvania’s 10 electoral votes on Jan. 6, tried to pressure Donoghue into investigating claims about voter fraud in Pennsylvania.
The report further confirmed that Pak left his role as U.S. attorney because Trump wanted him fired due to the FBI’s failure to find mass election fraud in Atlanta.
After a Jan. 3 meeting in the Oval Office, Donoghue called Pak that evening to tell him he should resign, according to the report.
In a statement, Senate Judiciary Chairman Durbin (D-Ill.) said the report “shows the American people just how close we came to a constitutional crisis.”
