Assault on the Capitol: the commission denounces a “shameless” manipulation by Trump

The House of Inquiry into the Capitol Assault attacked Thursday, June 23, Donald Trump's

attempts to push the Department of Justice to support his false allegations of voter fraud around the presidential election won by Joe Biden .

Read alsoAssault on the Capitol: the noose tightens on Donald Trump

During this fifth public hearing, the nine elected officials - seven Democrats and two Republicans repudiated by their party - detailed the pressures exerted by Donald Trump on the ministry and his efforts to appoint as its head one of his loyal followers ready for

.

,” noted Commission Chairman Bennie Thompson.

The elected officials returned to the tensions within the ministry in the days preceding January 6, 2021, when the defeated president had faced an internal revolt while trying to install one of his relatives at the head of the institution.

," added Bennie Thompson.

Read alsoTrump's vengeful silence

Former acting deputy minister Richard Donoghue testified that he repeatedly told the former US president that his allegations of voter fraud were unfounded.

Donald Trump simply repeated having won the presidential election.

'Just say the election was rigged and leave the rest in my hands and those of the elected Republicans,' Richard Donoghue said, based on his notes taken during a telephone conversation with Donald Trump. and former acting minister Jeffrey Rosen.

Seeing that the highest officials of the Ministry of Justice refused to bend, the defeated president tried to install one of his relatives at the head of the institution.

Jeffrey Clark, a mid-level civil servant who embraced the theories pushed by the president about a rigged election, was to overrule the department's findings - which had found no evidence of fraud that could have changed the outcome of the November ballot.

Jeffrey Clark was also to intervene on behalf of the ministry to refuse to certify the result of the election in the key state of Georgia, where Joe Biden had won with only 12,000 votes in advance.

Sending this letter would have been “a crime”

The Commission learned that Jeffrey Clark had prepared a letter to Georgia elected officials, in which he claimed that the department had uncovered evidence of massive fraud in Georgia, which was untrue.

But other Justice Department officials refused to sign the letter, and one of the White House legal advisers, Eric Herschmann, revealed that he told Jeff Clark that sending the letter would have been

.

Donald Trump announced to Jeffrey Rosen and Richard Donoghue that he was advised to fire them and appoint Jeffrey Clark as acting minister.

,” said Richard Donoghue.

The former assistant minister also said he warned Jeffrey Clark that his efforts to substantiate allegations of fraud

.

Read also Capture of the Capitol: the day when American democracy fractured

Jeffrey Rosen, Richard Donoghue, Steven Engel, a senior department official, and Pat Cipollone, a White House lawyer, threatened to resign during a meeting with the president on January 3, warning that they would take the best with them. federal prosecutors across the country.

Donald Trump has given up naming Jeffrey Clark, who refused to testify before the commission of inquiry.

The commission of inquiry announced on Wednesday that two additional sessions would take place in July.

The Congress interrupts its work on July 4 for two weeks.

After a year of investigation, the commission wants to present its conclusions before the end of the summer, placing Donald Trump at the heart

which culminated in the assault of hundreds of his supporters on the Congress building in Washington on January 6, 2021, as elected officials certify Joe Biden's victory.

The images of chaos in and around the Capitol had gone around the world and shaken American democracy for a few hours.