Just to say the election was rigged, Trump urged the DoJ after defeating Biden | Donald Trump

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Donald Trump has forced top justice department officials to falsely say that the 2020 election was bad so he and his allies in Congress could reverse the results and put him back in office, according to the newly released memos.

Just say the election was bad [and] leave the rest to me, the former president told former acting attorney general, Jeffrey Rosen, and his deputy, Richard Donoghue, presented by memos obtained by the House oversight committee. The notes were taken by Donoghue, who documented the call on the 27th when Trump was with Trump and Rosen.

Trump’s demand for the justice department represents an extraordinary example of a president seeking to influence an agency that should run independently of the White House, to advance his own personal interests and political agenda.

It’s also the latest example of the immense campaign Trump mounted in the last weeks of his presidency to cast doubt on the results of the 2020 election, which he defeated Joe Biden in a contest without any widespread voter fraud.

In a call in December, Donoghue told Trump that the justice department had no power to change the outcome of the election, to which the former president replied that he had no such expectations and that he and his allies in Congress would advance the claims. voter fraud.

Trump did not specifically name members of Congress with his plan, but at various points by call referred to House Republicans Jim Jordan and Scott Perry, as well as Senate Republican Ron Johnson, who was some of his most ardent defenders on Capitol Hill.

Memos taken by Donoghue and handed over to the House oversight committee, which is investigating Trump and the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, directly connect key Republicans to his disinformation campaign to make illegal in law the 2020 election.

Jordan was among those killed by House and Senate Republicans who voted against certification of election victory in Bidens at the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, before a group of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in a violent insurrection that leaving five dead and nearly 140 injured.

But the leading Republican on the powerful judiciary committee has recently reduced his role in the former president’s pressure campaign. Congressman Jordan will not, will not, and will not pressure anyone in the justice department about the 2020 election, a spokesman said.

The DoJ typically struggles to keep executive-branch discussions between presidents and top advisers secret, to avoid setting a pattern that will prevent officials from having honest conversations for fear of later becoming public. .

But the DoJs release of Donoghue’s memos to Congress demonstrates the determination that, like Richard Nixon and Watergate, congressional investigators should be able to assess the potential wrongdoing of a sitting president.

The DoJ’s move also follows its decision this week not to assert executive privilege for Rosen to testify in Congress clearing the way for other top Trump administration officials to appear before congressional committees investigating the former president.

DoJ officials and the White House Office of Legal Counsel concluded that executive privilege has to protect the country, rather than a single individual and said in a letter that it is inappropriate to seek protection for Trump’s efforts. to push his personal agenda.

Carolyn Maloney, chair of the House steering committee, on Friday praised the release of the memos: Handwritten notes show that President Trump directly instructed our top law enforcement agencies to make steps to overthrow a free and fair election.

The call in December showed records both pushed by officials against Trump, who, at one point, alleged that there had been widespread fraud in Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Arizona, which he described as election-damaged. a proclamation that led to an immediate condemnation. from Donoghue.

Most of the information you get is untrue, Donoghue told Trump, adding that the DoJ has completed dozens of preliminary investigations into his claims but has not proven any, according to the memos. We look at the allegations but they don’t come out.

But Trump, unperturbed and seemingly anxious about his impending departure from office, insisted: Ok good but what about the others? he said, the memo shows, referring to the killing of other conspiracies about voter fraud in Georgia. There is no time left, Trump added.

The former president, in a dangerous moment of foreshadowing, then raised the prospect of cleaning up top DoJs officials and installing in their place loyalists like Jeffrey Clark, who was head of the DoJs civil division. .

People tell me Jeff Clark is great, I should put him, Trump said, according to memos. People want me to replace the DoJ leadership. The New York Times reported that one week Clark conspired with Trump to oust Rosen as acting attorney general and force Georgia to overturn the election results.

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