Thursday’s January 6 committee hearing made a case that former President Donald Trump tried to pressure the Justice Department to back his claims of election fraud.
“Just say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen,” Trump said sometime between losing the 2020 election and the Capitol attack, according to former acting deputy attorney general Richard Donoghue‘s testimony, as a photo of the note flashed behind him.
Donoghue made it clear that as the one responsible for taking notes during the exchange, it was an exact quote.
The hearings alleged that Trump made great efforts to meet with top Justice Department officials daily bringing them different conspiracies to investigate. When Attorney Gen. Bill Barr resigned and acting Attorney Gen. Jeffrey Rosen didn’t act on Trump’s election lies to his satisfaction, he threatened to bring in someone who would. Jeffrey Clark, who was a Justice Department environmental lawyer, was allegedly Trump’s choice to be elevated to the position but ended up not going through with it after Donoghue and others said they would quit if he did.
Other takeaways from the hearing included the list of lawmakers who asked the former president for pardons including Reps. Andy Biggs (R-Arizona), Mo Brooks (R-Alabama), Matt Gaetz (R-Florida), Louie Gohmert(R-Texas) and Scott Perry(R-Pennsylvania).
