— —
We will likely hear more about these DOJ-coercion-effort details in tomorrow’s Jan 6th Hearing:
Trump to DOJ last December: 'Just say that the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me'
(CNN) Former President Donald Trump pressured acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen to declare that the election was corrupt in an attempt to help Republican members of Congress try to overturn the election result, according to notes of a December 2020 call Trump held with Rosen and acting deputy attorney general Richard Donoghue.
During the December 27, 2020, call, Trump pressured Rosen and Donoghue to falsely declare the election "illegal" and "corrupt" even after the Justice Department had not uncovered evidence of widespread voter fraud.
"Just say that the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me and the R. Congressmen," Trump said on the call, according to Donoghue's notes.
[...]
And if that “admission of guilt” is not enough — there’s this incriminating tidbit, jotted down for posterity, later on during that DOJ arm-twisting — to just play-along with the scheme …
Trump floated firing more DOJ officials
Trump suggested during the call that he might replace Rosen with then-Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark, who had who reportedly urged Trump to make him acting attorney general instead of Rosen.
"People tell me Jeff Clark is great, I should put him in," Trump said, according to Rosen's notes. "People want me to replace DOJ leadership."
[...]
Justice Department lawyers threatened mass resignations if Trump appointed loyalist to pursue election claims
by Debra Cassens Weiss, ABA Journal — October 8, 2021
Top Justice Department lawyers and White House counsel Pat Cipollone threatened mass resignations during a White House meeting in which they opposed President Donald Trump’s plan to install a loyalist as acting attorney general to help him overturn the election results through voter fraud investigations.
The lawyers told Trump they would resign if he carried out his plan to replace Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen with Jeffrey Clark, the acting head of the Justice Department’s civil division. They also said that every assistant attorney general in the Justice Department would also resign, and resignations could extend to U.S. attorneys and other Justice Department officials.
[...]
Clark had spoken with Trump multiple times about challenging election results and asked his superiors to send a letter to Georgia officials stating, without support, that the Justice Department had identified significant concerns that may have affected the election outcome.
Besides Cipollone, lawyers in the Jan. 3 meeting included Rosen and his deputy Richard Donoghue. Cipollone told the president the plan would be a “murder-suicide pact” because of the likely chain reaction of resignations.
[...]
Erin Burnett Outfront — Transcripts — July 30, 2021
[...]
LAURENCE TRIBE, HARVARD LAW PROFESSOR: These contemporary notes by the Acting Assistant Attorney General's deputy are compelling evidence that the President was committing several different crimes for violating crimes relating to stealing elections, crimes relating to pressuring of government officials to engage in political activity, violations of 18 U.S. Code Section 610, violations of 18 U.S. Code Section 2383. I could recite a lot of them.
But the point would really be not to simply enumerate a laundry list of crimes, but to say that we now know from firsthand evidence with the cooperation of the new Justice Department that is finally finding its sea legs that the President was engaged in an ongoing conspiracy to overturn the results of a free and fair election.
If it lead up to the insurrection, it puts the insurrection in context. It shows what his motives were in rallying people in this violent mob to sack the Congress. It was all part of a plan to say, I don't care if there was no real corruption, just say there was.
Say the election was stolen and then turn it over to me. That is criminal activity. (Inaudible) …
[19:25:04]
—
The burning question that I have — that hopefully will be discussed in tomorrow’s Hearing — is this:
Who were the “R. Congressmen” that Trump enticed Acting AG Rosen with, to conduct a sham investigation in that soon-to-be infamous quote:
"Just say that the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me and the R. Congressmen," — D. Trump
Whoever they are — they are likely accomplices, in Trump’s effort to corrupt the Justice Department, in order to throw the Jan 6 Election Certification into chaos, so that he could hold onto power, by anti-Constitutional and illegal means.
Wind-em-up Windbag Jim Jordan comes to mind. As well as perpetual Trump-toady: Ted Cruz.
Indeed as it turned out, they were ready to overturn the Jan 6 Election Certification apple-cart — BEFORE the blood-thirsty mob (AKA as the Insurrection), put a major crimp into their conspiratorial disruption plans.
No doubt, there we other “R. Congressmen” co-conspirators — hopefully the Jan 6 Hearing tomorrow shines a spotlight on their Trump-coerced betrayals.
Their oath of office used to be a sacred thing. Now thanks to corrupt “R. Congressmen” their oath has become nothing less than, just ‘another means to illicit cynical ends’ ...
—
Oath of Office
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.
www.senate.gov
history.house.gov
Thankfully enough patriotic Americans took their Oaths seriously and stood-up to Trump, to thwart his dogged coup attempts.
We likely will not be so lucky, if “Trump and the R. Congressmen," get a second bite at that Certification apple. Given another opportunity, Trump (or his MAGA replacement) will have the “right kind of people” installed at those key positions — you know the Yes-men type who have no loyalty to Constitutional Oaths.
Call it the new MAGA Litimus-test, to give it a logistical frame.
— —
Continuing to pursue unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and some of his fellow GOP senators announced they would vote to reject the certification of Electoral College votes for the presidential election unless an emergency audit is conducted.
[...]
Joining Cruz in issuing the statement were Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Steve Daines of Montana, John Kennedy of Louisiana, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Mike Braun of Indiana, along with Sens.-elect Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.
www.texastribune.org — Jan 2, 2021
Five Republican members of Congress from Ohio voted Wednesday evening to reject an Electoral College certification, an action taken hours after a large group of Trump loyalists stormed the U.S. Capitol building in a violent show of support for overturning the presidential election results.
Those objecting were U.S. Reps. Jim Jordan of Urbana, Bill Johnson of Marietta, Bob Gibbs of Lakeville, Steve Chabot of Cincinnati and Warren Davidson of Troy. They were unsuccessful.
www.news5cleveland.com/...
The 147 Republicans Who Voted to Overturn Election Results
— NY Times — January 7, 2021
Just another Trumpy-day in the Office.
— —