Following the release of findings this week from the Senate Judiciary Committee’s months-long investigation into efforts at keeping Trump in power, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), who is the chairman of the House committee investigating the Capitol riot, spoke out. Specifically, the Senate Judiciary Committee has been examining the attempted usage of the powers of the Justice Department to support Trump’s schemes to stay in office. At the Justice Department, individuals including then-top official Jeffrey Clark backed Trump’s maneuvers. Now, Thompson has issued a new pledge that the committee he leads will find the truth for the American people.
Thompson commented as follows:
‘I thank Chairman Durbin and his colleagues on the Senate Judiciary Committee for shedding more light on the former President’s pressure campaign inside the Department of Justice. This report has provided alarming details about the lengths to which the former President and his associates went trying to overturn the 2020 election. I take to heart the recommendations to the Select Committee, and this report will be an important resource as we work to develop the context in which the events of January 6th occurred. The Select Committee will continue our work to get answers for the American people about what happened on January 6th and to make sure nothing like that day ever happens again.’
NEW: Statement from Chairman @BennieGThompson on the Majority Staff Report released by the @JudiciaryDems regarding the former President’s pressure campaign inside the Department of Justice to overturn the 2020 election. Read the full statement: https://t.co/4AGpjgIf5D
— January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) October 7, 2021
Information released by the Judiciary Committee includes details of “Donald Trump’s relentless, direct pressure on DOJ’s leadership,” including “at least nine calls and meetings with Rosen and/or Donoghue starting the day former Attorney General Bill Barr announced his resignation and continuing almost until the January 6 insurrection—including near-daily outreach once Barr left DOJ on December 23,” as a press release from the committee put it.
“Rosen” refers to then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, while “Donoghue” refers to then-acting deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue, both of whom have been interviewed by the Judiciary Committee. Trump was desperate for support in his ambitions to get Biden’s presidential election victory thrown out. In one particular instance, an assistant to the then-president sent a draft of a brief over to Rosen that Trump wanted the Justice Department to file with the Supreme Court, and in that hoped-for filing were arguments of election fraud. Trump’s pressure on Rosen wasn’t merely offered in passing — it was consistent and specific.
The Senate Judiciary Committee asked the D.C. Bar to investigate Clark for his role in the schemes, which appear to have involved violations of rules for lawyers. Among other examples, Rosen wanted top officials at the Justice Department to tell leaders in Georgia and elsewhere that federal authorities had uncovered reasons to be concerned about the integrity of the election outcome in several states — which was not true. Trump contemplated replacing Rosen with Clark, and the Judiciary Committee also shared in that press release that Clark attempted “to induce Rosen into helping Trump’s election subversion scheme by telling Rosen he would decline Trump’s offer to install him in Rosen’s place if Rosen agreed to aid that scheme.”
