Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) on Saturday asked the Justice Department’s inspector general to investigate an alleged plan by former President Trump and a DOJ attorney to remove the acting attorney general and replace him with someone more willing to investigate unfounded allegations of electoral fraud.
Driving the news: The New York Times reported for the first time on Friday that the lawyer, Jeffrey Clark, allegedly invented “ways to cast doubts about the election results and reinforce Trump’s continuing legal battles and pressure on Georgian politicians. Because the Sir [Jeffrey] Rosen refused the president’s pleas to carry out these plans, Mr. Trump was about to decide whether to fire Mr. Rosen and replace him with Mr. Clark. ”
- Trump finally decided not to fire Rosen after DOJ officials unanimously decided that they would resign if the then president carried out the plan, the Times reported. The acting attorney general and Clark also presented their cases at a “bizarre White House meeting that two officials compared to an episode of Trump’s reality show, ‘The Apprentice’.”
Clark denied “categorically” that he outlined a plan to expel Rosen, according to the Times and the Washington Post, which also reported the alleged plan.
- “I didn’t even make recommendations for action based on factual inaccuracies gleaned from the Internet,” noted Clark, according to the Post.
- “There was no maneuver[s]. ‘There was a frank discussion of options and pros and cons with the president. It is a pity that those who were part of a privileged legal conversation commented publicly on such internal deliberations, while distorting any discussions. … Observing the legal privileges, which I will adhere to even if others do not, prevents me from divulging details about the conversation. “
- DOJ, Rosen and Trump declined to comment to the Times. An adviser told the newspaper that the justice system should investigate “the rampant electoral fraud that has plagued our system for years”.
What is he saying: “An unscrupulous leader of the Trump Justice Department would conspire to subvert the will of the people, “tweeted Schumer on Saturday.
- “The Justice Department’s Inspector General should start an investigation into this sedition attempt now,” he added.
- “And the Senate will move ahead with Trump’s impeachment trial,” scheduled for the week of February 8.