According to handwritten notes by one of the participants in the telephone conversation, Donald Trump pressured Justice Department officials to declare the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Joe Biden, “fraudulent.”
A December 27 phone call released this Friday by the House of Representatives oversight committee highlights just how far Trump has gone in trying to change the election results and enlist the backing of law enforcement officials.
Emails released in June show that Trump and his allies have pressured the Justice Department in the final weeks of their White House presence to investigate unsubstantiated allegations of widespread electoral fraud.
“Just say the election was rigged and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen.”Trump said at one point, addressing then Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, according to notes made by Richard Donoghue, who was Rosen’s number two and who also took part in the conversation.
Trump’s pressure is all the more remarkable as Trump’s Attorney General William Barr said a few weeks earlier that the Justice Department had found no evidence of fraud that could have influenced the final outcome.
The December 27 phone call came days after Barr stepped down, leaving Rosen to run the Department during the tumultuous final weeks of the Trump administration, including the January 6 attack on Capitol Hill when Trump supporters stormed the building as Congressmen were certifying the results. elections.
“These handwritten notes show that President Trump has explicitly instructed our leading law enforcement agency to move forward with free and fair elections in the final days of his presidency,” Democratic Chair Caroline said in a statement. New York.
During the conversation, according to the tapes, Trump said that people were “angry” and accused the Justice Department of their “inaction,” adding, “We have a duty to inform people that this was an illegal and rigged election.”
He also accused the Justice Department of failing to respond to criminal complaints, although charges without evidence of fraud were repeatedly dismissed by judges, including those appointed by Trump, and election officials across the country.
Justice Department officials told Trump they were investigating, but that the allegations had no evidence to back them up, and that most of the information he (Trump) received was “false,” according to Donoghue’s notes.
At one point in the conversation, always according to the tapes, Rosen told Trump that the Justice Department could not “snap its fingers” and “change the election result.” During a phone call, Trump also admitted to replacing Rosen.
