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Donald Trump wanted to overturn the US election with the help of the Justice Department

2022-06-24T00:18:26.105Z


He was harassed daily by Donald Trump with electoral fraud lies - this is reported by ex-Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen in the committee on the storming of the Capitol. Facts would not have interested the US President.


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Donald Trump (in February 2022)

Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

New details about the role of former President Donald Trump in the events of January 6, 2021 are becoming known.

The most recent public hearing also dealt with the attempted influence of the Republican on the US Department of Justice.

According to the leadership at the time, Trump wanted to use the ministry to avert his defeat in the 2020 presidential election.

At a hearing in the House of Representatives, then Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and his deputy Richard Donoghue described how Trump put them under vehement pressure.

He also threatened to change the ministry's leadership in order to get the agency to take action against alleged electoral fraud.

The two said this on Thursday (local time) before the committee of inquiry into the storming of the US Capitol in January 2021.

At the time, supporters of Trump had violently stormed the seat of parliament in the capital, Washington.

Congress met there to certify Biden's election victory.

Five people were killed in the riots, including a police officer.

Rosen said during his brief tenure at the helm of the ministry, Trump called or video chatted with him virtually every day from December 23, 2020 to January 3, 2021.

Donoghue said Trump had "an arsenal of allegations" about alleged voter fraud "that he wanted to base himself on."

Warning against “sliding into a constitutional crisis”

The President has urged the Justice Department to investigate.

However, these were baseless allegations or conspiracy theories.

"These allegations were simply unfounded," said Donoghue.

He and Rosen had stepped into their posts in December 2020 for the final weeks of Trump's term in office after Attorney General William Barr tendered his resignation amid a dispute over the outcome of the presidential election.

The Department of Justice has complied with the law and the facts, stressed Rosen.

Among other things, Trump tried to get the department to write a letter declaring that the election was corrupt, Donoghue said.

Trump said that he and his Republican allies in Congress would then do the “rest” – i.e. overturning the legitimate election result.

Donoghue stressed that the letter had politically instrumentalized the ministry in a dangerous way.

"It would probably have thrown us into a constitutional crisis," he said.

Trump's ex-colleagues are asking for a pardon

Trump threatened to replace Rosen with top official Jeffrey Clark in the face of the department's refusal to endorse him.

This was willing to use the authority to undermine the election.

At a dramatic meeting in the White House on January 3, Trump was made clear that in this case almost the entire top management of the ministry would resign immediately, Rosen and Donoghue said in unison.

Rosen stressed that White House Counsel Pat Cipollone had advised Trump not to fire the ministry head.

Documents and recorded testimonies from former White House staffers at the committee meeting confirmed that after Jan. 6, several Republican lawmakers sought an early pardon from Trump.

Representatives Matt Gaetz, Mo Brooks, Scott Perry and Louie Gohmert, among others, have sought protection from possible prosecution given their support for Trump's efforts.

jok/dpa

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2022-06-24

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