Disgraced Florida retiree Donald Trump literally tried pushing the Justice Department to back his lies about the 2020 Election in a scheme to nullify President Joe Biden’s victory, which former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen confirmed in testimony.
Rosen replaced former Attorney General Bill Barr when he stepped down after the election, an election even he admitted was clean and devoid of fraud.
But that did not stop Trump from trying repeatedly to pressure Justice Department officials to go along with his scheme.
One of Rosen’s deputies, Jeffrey Clark, apparently communicated with Trump on several occasions about the election, which Rosen confirmed in testimony to the Justice Department inspector general.
The New York Times reports that Rosen told the watchdog “that one of his deputies tried to help former President Donald J. Trump subvert the results of the 2020 election, according to a person familiar with the interviews.”
Clark attempted to pressure other Justice Department officials to go along with Trump’s election lies, so much so that Trump even considered putting him in charge of the entire department in the waning weeks of his presidency in a desperate play to stay in power.
That prompted Mr. Trump to consider ousting Mr. Rosen and installing Mr. Clark at the top of the department to carry out that plan.
Mr. Trump never fired Mr. Rosen, but the plot highlights the former president’s desire to batter the Justice Department into advancing his personal agenda.
And Clark didn’t just speak with Trump one time.
[Rosen] also discovered that Mr. Clark had been engaging in unauthorized conversations with Mr. Trump about ways to have the Justice Department publicly cast doubt on President Biden’s victory, particularly in battleground states that Mr. Trump was fixated on, like Georgia.
It’s damning testimony that makes it clear that Trump was abusing his power in a blatant attempt to overthrow democracy. When that failed, he turned to inciting violence, resulting in his supporters storming the Capitol on January 6th to prevent the election results from being certified. That failed as well, but not before many police officers were brutally assaulted and lawmakers narrowly escaped potential assassination.
The DOJ must prosecute Trump and Clark. Rosen has confirmed Trump’s attempt to drag the Justice Department into his scheme to overthrow democracy in violation of the Constitution. Preventing future abuses of power can only be accomplished by making sure Trump and his accomplices are held legally accountable and face severe consequences.
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