https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/15/poli...s-justice-department-2020-election/index.html
New emails show how Trump and his allies pressured Justice Department to try to challenge 2020 election results
(CNN)New emails show how former President Donald Trump's White House assistant, chief of staff and other allies pressured the Justice Department to investigate claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election -- and how Trump directed allies to push then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen to join the legal effort to challenge the election result, according to a batch of emails released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday.
The emails from Justice Department and White House officials show how Trump allies pressured Rosen to consider false and outlandish allegations that the election had been stolen and sought to get the Justice Department to formally back up the false claims. The documents also offer a window into how Rosen dealt with the political pressure from the White House soon after he was tapped to lead the department in the final weeks of the Trump administration.
Amid the pressure, Rosen said he refused to speak to Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani about his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
When Mark Meadows, then-White House chief of staff, sought to have Rosen arrange an FBI meeting with a Giuliani ally pushing a conspiracy theory that Italy was using military technology and satellites to somehow change votes to Joe Biden, Rosen said he would not help Giuliani.
"I flatly refused, said I would not be giving any special treatment to Giuliani or any of his 'witnesses,' and re-affirmed yet again that I will not talk to Giuliani about any of this," Rosen wrote to then-acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue.
The new emails provide additional detail to reports earlier this month from CNN, The New York Times and others on Meadows' emails to Rosen after the election, which revealed how the top White House aide had urged the Justice Department to take action for Trump's benefit. The emails included a list of complaints about voting procedures in New Mexico, alleged "anomalies" in a Georgia county and the claims about Italian satellites.
The emails also show how Trump directed allies toward Rosen, who had been named acting attorney general following William Barr's December 2020 resignation after Barr had publicly said there had not been widespread fraud in the election.
Kurt Olsen, a private attorney, reached out to John Moran at the Justice Department on December 29 requesting a meeting with Rosen, promising he could meet at the Justice Department with an hour's notice. He attached a draft complaint modeled after the Texas Supreme Court lawsuit unsuccessfully challenging the election results in four states, and wrote in a follow-up email that Trump directed him to meet with Rosen to discuss the US bringing a similar action.
"The President of the United States has seen this complaint, and he directed me last night to brief AG Rosen in person today to discuss bringing this action," Olsen wrote. "I have been instructed to report back to the President this afternoon after the meeting."
The same day, Trump's White House assistant also forwarded the draft complaint to Rosen and Donoghue to review, saying it had also been shared with Meadows and White House counsel Pat Cipollone.
On December 14, Trump's assistant had sent Rosen and Donoghue a document claiming to show voter fraud in Antrim County, Michigan. An aide to Donoghue forwarded the document to the US attorneys for the eastern and western districts in Michigan.
By the end of the year, it was clear Rosen and Donoghue had tired of the pressure campaign from the White House.
The emails show how Meadows pushed the Justice Department to investigate the fraud claims being made by Trump allies like Cleta Mitchell, the lawyer who assisted Trump on his January 2 call when he pressured Georgia officials to "find" him votes.
In an email on January 1, Meadows says there were "allegations of signature match anomalies" in Fulton County, Georgia, asking Rosen to have a Justice Department official "engage on this issue immediately to determine if there is any truth to this allegation."
Rosen forwarded the email to Donoghue later that day, saying: "Can you believe this? I am not going to respond to the message below."
"At least it's better than the last one, but that doesn't say much," Donoghue responded.
When Meadows sent Rosen a YouTube video link about Italian satellites, Rosen forwarded it to Donoghue, who responded, "Pure insanity."
In another exchange, Donoghue told Steve Engel of the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel that he wanted to meet with him "about some antics that could potentially end up on your radar," signaling there was at least some concern that the Office of Legal Counsel would have to weigh in on potential issues.
The new emails released by the committee include correspondence with Jeffrey Clark, a Justice Department lawyer who tried to convince Trump to remove Rosen and use the department to undo Georgia's election results, The New York Times reported in January.
In what appears to be the aftermath of a January 3 meeting of Trump, Clark, Rosen and others, then-Justice Department official Patrick Hovakimian wrote, "It sounds like Rosen and the cause of justice won."
"Amazing," responded John Demers, the head of the National Security Division, who is leaving the Justice Department at the end of the month.
The GOP are fascists who hate our form of government (democracy)
- Thread starter Cuddles
- Start date
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Politics in the US is like hearing either two dogs barking at each other, or two cats fukk1ng. I can't decide which. If you are rooting for one gang over another, congrats - you are the problem, and incapable of real thought.
The US needs to disband while we can still do so peacefully, perhaps like the Czechs and the Slovaks. Otherwise, there is going to be a ton of violence. The country as an idea is finished, and I am ok with that - it happens to all empires.
The US needs to disband while we can still do so peacefully, perhaps like the Czechs and the Slovaks. Otherwise, there is going to be a ton of violence. The country as an idea is finished, and I am ok with that - it happens to all empires.
Please stop the garbage posting.
--"So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth."
https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/11/politics/pak-trump-georgia-election-testimony/index.html
Former US attorney tells investigators he quit because he heard Trump was considering firing him
(CNN)Byung "BJay" Pak, a former US attorney in Atlanta who abruptly quit during then-President Donald Trump's mission to overturn the results of the election, stepped down earlier than planned because he caught wind Trump was considering firing him, according to a source familiar with Pak's interview with congressional investigators Wednesday.
The circumstances surrounding Pak's departure were among the lingering mysteries from a chaotic stretch in early January. At the time, Trump and his allies were focused squarely on Georgia as they sought to push unfounded claims of mass election fraud. Two days before Pak's resignation on January 4, Trump pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to validate bogus claims of election fraud in the state.
The Senate Judiciary Committee interviewed Pak on Wednesday as it investigates the pressure Trump put on the Justice Department to take a more active role in his efforts to overturn his electoral loss. The interview, which was not public, was conducted virtually and lasted between three and three and a half hours, according to the source familiar with the testimony.
Pak on Wednesday said it was not unreasonable for Trump to have concerns about election fraud in Georgia given the volume of allegations that the department received, the source said.
Trump hand-picks replacement for Atlanta's US attorney after surprise resignation
After Pak's surprise resignation, Trump replaced him with his US attorney in Savannah, bypassing the normal chain of succession and raising suspicions about Pak's departure.
Pak told the committee, according to the source familiar with his testimony, that he had confidence in his replacement at the US attorney's office. He also acknowledged that he served at the pleasure of the president and could get fired at any time.
Documents released by the House in its investigation of Trump's pressure on the Justice Department to substantiate his election fraud claims show Pak resigning after a key weekend in which Trump considered overhauling DOJ leadership because they hadn't found widespread fraud.
Pak is one of six former DOJ political appointees whom the Biden administration green-lighted to talk to the committee about Trump's election fraud push.
Trump's move to then tap as Pak's replacement Bobby Christine, another US attorney in Georgia, further arose suspicions about why Pak had resigned. Days earlier, Trump seemed to refer to Pak as a "never-Trumper" on his infamous January 2 call with Raffensperger.
Before his immediate resignation on January 4, Pak had told associates he had planned to stay on until the inauguration. It was later revealed, in reporting by The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, that acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue had a phone call with Pak the night before his resignation. In that call, according to the Times, Donoghue relayed to Pak that the White House was frustrated with his failure to bring voter fraud investigations in the state. Pak himself has not said anything publicly about why he left his post earlier than planned.
By the afternoon of January 6, the shake-up had been overshadowed, first by Democrats' dual wins in the Georgia special Senate elections, and then by the insurrection at the US Capitol.
Days later, Christine in a private call with the Atlanta's office staff, told them that "there's just nothing to" the election issues the office was looking into, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
