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Former US President Trump
Photo: Ross D. Franklin / AP
Former US President Donald Trump is said to have urged the Justice Department to have the election he lost declared "corrupt" in order to be able to overturn the result with the help of allies in Congress.
The New York Times reported, citing notes on the conversation from the Justice Department, which had been made available to a committee of the House of Representatives.
The control committee published the notes a little later.
Trump is said to have said in a telephone conversation with the then incumbent Justice Minister Jeffrey Rosen and his deputy Richard Donoghue at the end of December: "Just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me." Said it was not in the Ministry's power to change the outcome of the election.
Trump is said to have also mentioned Republican Congressmen who should help him.
As early as January it became known that Trump had considered replacing Attorney General Rosen with one of his supporters.
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Jeffrey Rosen, then acting Minister of Justice under Donald Trump
Photo: Tasos Katopodis / AP
Typically, the government does not provide Congress with notes on the President's discussions with Cabinet members.
In this case, the Justice Department of the government of Democratic President Joe Biden renounces the secrecy, according to the "New York Times", because it concerns possible offenses by an ex-president as a person, not government acts worthy of protection.
The ministry also allowed Rosen and Donoghue to answer questions from the House of Representatives' Control and Justice Committee without special restrictions.
Chair of the Control and Justice Committee becomes clear
The committees investigate Trump's efforts to discredit the election or even overturn it through political machinations against the will of the voters.
After the November 3rd election, Trump spoke of “massive electoral fraud” and also put pressure on local election officers, for example in the state of Georgia.
However, dozens of courts dismissed lawsuits against the alleged fraud.
The Justice Department also said there was no evidence of any major election fraud.
Trump, in turn, continues to claim that he won the election.
"These handwritten notes show that President Trump has directed our country's chief law enforcement agency to take steps to overturn a free and fair election in the final days of his presidency," wrote Control and Justice Committee Chairman Carolyn Maloney. in a statement.
slü / dpa
