- Trump reportedly worked with a Justice Department attorney to try to oust the acting attorney general.
- He wanted to replace Jeffrey Rosen with lawyer Jeffrey Clark, the New York Times reported.
- Trump stepped back after a group of top DOJ leaders said he would step down if Rosen were fired.
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Donald Trump allegedly conspired with a Justice Department lawyer to oust incumbent attorney general Jeffrey Rosen so he could put a loyalist who would pressure lawmakers in Georgia to overturn the election in his favor, the New York Times reported on Friday. .
The story recalls Trump’s final efforts to retain power in the days leading up to President Joe Biden’s inauguration.
According to Katie Benner of The Times, Trump and Jeffrey Clark were working on ways to raise doubts about the election results. Rosen did not cooperate with Trump’s alleged plan, which led him to look for a volunteer participant in Clark, the Times reported.
Top Justice Department leaders threatened to resign if Rosen was fired, which forced Trump to abandon the idea, but not before Clark and Rosen presented their arguments against Trump, the newspaper reported.
Trump’s allies and Republicans lost several dozen lawsuits in an attempt to overturn the election results.
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Allies, including pro-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell, defended an unfounded conspiracy theory that Dominion Voting Systems traded Trump’s votes for Biden’s votes in the election. Dominion filed a $ 1.3 billion defamation suit against Powell earlier this month.
The Times reported that Trump also pressured Rosen to appoint special advisers, specifically one who would investigate Dominion.
Insider was unable to contact Clark, and the Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication.
Clark told The Times that his report, which was based on interviews with four former Trump officials, was inaccurate, but did not specify what they were.
“Senior Justice Department attorneys often provide legal advice to the White House as part of our obligations,” said Clark. “All of my official communications were consistent with the law.”
In December, Rosen and Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue denied Clark’s request for the department to hold a press conference and said they were investigating allegations of fraud.
Trump focused on the state of Georgia, where Biden won by a small margin. The Trump administration lobbied and attacked then-US Attorney General for Northern Georgia District, Byung J. “BJay” Pak. Pak resigned on January 4 and the Justice Department replaced him the following day.
The Washington Post reported on Thursday that the inspector general is now investigating Pak’s sudden departure.
Pak is not the only Georgia employee Trump has tried to pressure. Trump also pleaded with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” additional votes to help him win.
In addition, The Times reported that Clark had asked Rosen and Donoghue to send Georgia officials a letter falsely saying that the department was investigating the state for electoral fraud and that they should overturn Biden’s victory. On December 31, Rosen and Donoghue told Clark that he was wrong, as there was no evidence of fraud.
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That weekend, Clark met with Trump and came back to tell Rosen he would replace him before January 6, when Congress met to certify the votes.
Rosen refused to resign and worked with White House lawyer Pat Cipollone to schedule a meeting with Trump later that night, the Times reported.
Rosen, Donoghue and Clark met with Trump, Cipollone and their deputy, Patrick Philbin. Cipollone eventually convinced Trump that it would be unwise to fire Rosen.
The unfounded allegations of Trump’s electoral fraud were criticized as the spark that fueled the January 6 insurrection attempt on the United States Capitol. Trump supporters stormed the building and clashed with the police, interrupting the joint session of Congress while lawmakers were expected to formalize Biden’s victory in the 2020 election. The mutiny killed five people.
The House accused Trump on charges of inciting an insurrection. The Senate will soon hold a trial and vote whether the former president will be convicted. This is the second impeachment that Trump faced in his four years in office.