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WASHINGTON (AP) In the final weeks of his presidency, Donald Trump and his allies pressured the Department of Justice to investigate unproven claims of widespread election fraud in 2020 that even his former attorney general declared without evidence, newly released emails are shown.
The emails, released Tuesday by the House Oversight Committee, reveal new details of how Trump, his White House chief of staff and other allies forced members of the U.S. government to challenge the 2020 election. due to false claims.
Homeland Security and Department of Justice officials, as well as Republican election leaders across the country, have repeatedly said there was no widespread fraud. Former Attorney General William Barr, a longtime Trump loyalist, was among those who said there was no evidence of such fraud.
The emails also show the extent to which Trump has worked to enlist former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen in his campaigns failing legal efforts to challenge the election result, including suggesting filing a brief on United States Supreme Court.
Those sent to Rosen included debunked conspiracy theories and misinformation about voter fraud. Trump’s lies about the election helped motivate mobs to rush to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 in a failed effort to stop the certification of Joe Bidens ’victory.
Several times, for example, Trump’s allies have written about Dominion Voting Systems potentially voter fraud, a conspiracy theory now the subject of a billion -dollar lawsuit on the voting company’s remorse. Trumps chief of staff, Mark Meadows, asked about the investigation into allegations of voter fraud caused by satellites from Italy.
Meadows tried to get Rosen to investigate conspiracy theories and push the acting attorney general to meet with an ally of Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani who promotes baseless election conspiracies that Italy uses satellites and military technology to change votes.
After Rosen forwarded the Meadows email, Rich Donoghue, the acting deputy attorney general, sent a note to Rosen saying, pure insanity. Rosen wrote again that the FBI asked him to meet with Giulianis and he said no, forcing the man to follow the FBI’s normal protocol for tips and just call the public tip line or take his information at an FBI office. But Rosen said he insulted Giuliani in response.
Asked if I would reconsider, I totally refused, said I would not give any special treatment to Giuliani or any of his witnesses, and reaffirmed again that I would not talk to Giuliani about any of this, wrote Rosen.
On Dec. 14, the day the Electoral College votes were validated and Barr said he would resign at the end of that month, a Trump White House aide sent a note to Rosen with the subject From POTUS, a acronym for president of the United States. The email to Rosen, a deputy attorney general who became the attorney general after Barr left, included points in question on alleged voter fraud in Antrim County, on a major battlefield, Michigan, Among the claims that such a Cover-up is Happening about voting machines in Michigan and Michigan cannot prove for Biden.
Shortly after Trump’s aide sent the documents, Donoghue sent the same documents to U.S. lawyers in Michigan’s Eastern and Western districts.
On Dec. 29, Trump’s aide emailed Rosen, Donoghue and Acting Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall and included a draft legal objection for the Supreme Court, with a phone number where they could be contacted directly. to the chief. The proposed complaint asked the court to declare that the Electoral College votes cast on six battlegrounds stating that Trump was defeated would not be counted. It asked for the court to order a special election in the states.
One of Trump’s private lawyers emailed senior Justice officials urging them to file the complaint. The emails show he repeatedly called Rosens ’senior counselors and others in the Department of Justice requesting the meetings, claiming he was driving from Maryland to the Justice Department headquarters in Washington to meet with Rosen because he could not reach her.
As I said in our call, the President of the United States saw this complaint, and he directed me last night to personally personally contact AG Rosen and discuss bringing this action, he wrote in an email. I was instructed to report back to the President this afternoon after this meeting.
The Associated Press reported late last year on efforts within the Trump administration to pressure government employees to use the false narrative of election fraud in 2020. Trump asked the Justice Department to investigate the opportunities voter fraud, and Justice leaders sent a memo to states prioritizing the effort. Trump also asked to name a special prosecutor to investigate false voter fraud allegations.
And the official who serves as Trump’s eyes and ears in the Justice Department has tried to pressure staff to turn away sensitive information about election fraud and other things he could convey to the White House. He is not allowed in the building.
Trump is considering replacing Rosen with a more loyal ally, Jeffrey Clark, and also looked at whether the White House could appoint a special counsel without the approval of the Justice Departments. For example, on Jan. 1, Meadows asked Rosen to have Clark investigate signature match anomalies in Fulton county, GA.
This did not happen, and on January 3 another Justice official wrote that the cause of justice had won.
Three days later, hundreds of pro-Trump rioters entered the Capitol, attacked police and caused dozens of injuries, causing $ 1.5 million in damage and sending lawmakers fleeing for their lives. Five people were killed, including a police officer who collapsed that day. At least 400 people were arrested in connection with the riot, the Justice Department’s largest prosecution in history.
Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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