The former president tried to sack the leadership of US prosecutors for not supporting his unimaginable theories about the existence of a plot for his defeat in the polls
Former President Donald Trump abused presidential power to use the Justice Department to launch a federal investigation into alleged electoral fraud in his attempt to prevent the transfer of power to Democrat Joe Biden, winner of the US election in November 2021. according to the fifth public hearing of the Commission investigating the attack on the Capitol on January 6 and that this Thursday (early today in Spain) has focused on the plot orchestrated by Trump to control judges and prosecutors, which even led until the forced resignation of Attorney General Bill Barr on December 14, 2020.
In the days and weeks that followed, until Jan. 20, when Biden was inaugurated as president, department heads came under intense pressure from the Republican leader and his allies. However, this campaign was stubbornly rejected by the representatives of the Public Prosecution Service, who refused to exceed the limit established by the law. Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, his deputy Richard Donoghue and other prosecutors formed a united front of resistance, threatening the former president with a threat to resign en bloc if he appoints another attorney general better able to defend their position. represent interests in conducting an illegal investigation.
At the center of this plot is Jeffrey Clark, an obscure lawyer dedicated to environmental issues, who, in the midst of the desperation of the moment, saw his chance to climb the ladder and act as a useful ‘patch’ to rescue the plight of the defeated president. Armed with bizarre “Internet theories” about an alleged hacking of voting machines using smart thermostats, Clark overturned his bosses at the Justice Department and immediately asked for an interview with Trump. Through Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Clark was summoned to meet with the Republican leader, who he assured would launch his desired federal election fraud investigation if he named him Attorney General.
Alarmed by the possibility of being replaced by a government official with no qualifications for the position and willing to corrupt the justice system, Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen convened his team and requested an urgent meeting with Trump. This took place in the Oval Office on January 3. A Sunday. Some of the attendees came in weekend clothes. Trump took several White House lawyers such as Pat Cipollone, Meadows, Clark and others of his allies.
Rosen and his team stood up to Trump, announcing a block on the resignation of the entire leadership of the department if he appointed Clark to lead it; a moment reminiscent of the “Saturday Night Massacre,” an episode of the Watergate scandal during Nixon’s presidency, in its attempt to interfere with the judiciary to suspend the independent prosecutor who was investigating him for corruption.
Rose and his deputies Donoghue and Engel testified before the Congressional Committee about that tense wrangling between a stubborn president and a department with a strong track record in claiming his independence from the White House. The three have talked about the maneuvers of the tycoon’s lawyers to try to prove the truth of a non-existent electoral fraud, the rejection of dozens of complaints and the avalanche of demands from the president and his allies, which, with the expiry of the days became unimaginable. Reality seemed to fade when Trump demanded to confiscate the voting machines, assuring that an Italian hacker had manipulated them in favor of Biden via satellite transmission. The investigation into such a plot was again negative, and the department argued that it lacked the legal authority to seize election equipment.
Former Assistant Attorney General Donoghue explained to Trump that the Justice Department must not interfere in a state’s elections: “If a state runs flawed elections, it’s up to the state itself or Congress to correct them.” But the president wanted something simpler, added Donoghue: “Just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the congressional Republicans,” he ordered. In those moments of turmoil and delirium, the Republican leader even tried one last strategy to force prosecutors to sign a letter admitting electoral corruption. His idea was to send this statement to Republicans in Congress to cause a national scandal and question Biden’s victory, at least in the media. Naturally, the idea was rejected. The president’s own attorney, Pat Cipollone, described that letter as a “murder-suicide pact” that “would harm anyone who came into contact with it.”
Trump then replied to the prosecution’s leadership that the easiest thing to do would be to fire her and make a change in leadership. However, he encountered opposition from this group. Rosen told him that if he carried out that decision, hundreds of federal prosecutors would resign en masse. The warning had effect: Such a sweeping gesture would deter Trump from appointing deputies and would also draw public attention to his attempts at electoral manipulation. The outgoing president eventually gave up on his attempt to seize control of the department. The meeting ended late in the afternoon. Three days later, hundreds of extremists stormed the Capitol in Washington.
Source: La Verdad
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