WATERLOO – The apparent lack of prosecutorial expertise that Jeffrey Rosen had when he joined the Justice Department in 2019 as deputy attorney general prompted harsh criticism from Democratic lawmakers.
Rosen, a former top officer at the Transportation Department, took over for Rod Rosenstein, whose turbulent career had been intimately connected to the Russia probe and who had developed a reputation as a target for then-President Donald Trump.
A few months after being confirmed, Rosen would recognise that he was “the new guy” and say that the lack of experience had so far not caused many issues.
Soon after assuming office, he told USA TODAY in an interview, “You know, it’s always perilous to assume that you know what you don’t know. “As a result, I’m certain there are things I don’t know.
Day 5 of the hearings on January 6th events: Takeaways from the hearing on January 6: Regarding the 2020 election, Trump advised DOJ officials to “just say it was crooked.”
What Rosen could not have known at the time is how he would be thrust into the position of acting attorney general after Bill Barr’s abrupt resignation and into a ferocious battle for the independence of the Justice Department that Trump sought to enlist to undermine President Joe Biden’s election.
The former unknown and a small group of top aides, notably blunt-spoken former Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue, were painted as key defenders of a then-shaky democracy in Rosen’s testimony before a special House committee on the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
On June 23, 2022, in Washington, DC, Jeffrey Rosen, a former acting attorney general, and Richard Donoghue, a former acting deputy attorney general, testified in front of the committee looking into the attack on the US Capitol on January 6.
The president made a consistent effort to shape the department to serve his political interests, according to Rosen, acting attorney general since December 2020, and Donoghue, acting deputy attorney general, since January 3.
This effort culminated in a dramatic Oval Office meeting on January 3, during which Trump threatened to replace Rosen with rogue Justice loyalist Jeffrey Clark to pursue unfounded allegations of voter fraud.
Rosen, Donoghue, and Steven Engel, a former assistant attorney, confronted that danger and ultimately persuaded the president to back off from threatening mass resignations that unquestionably would have thrown the nation into an unparalleled crisis.
As Rosen recalled the emotional exchange, “the issue was the use of the Justice Department, and it’s just so critical that the Justice Department adhere to the facts and the law.” “It’s incredibly dangerous for our country if the Justice Department stops playing the job that it’s meant to,”
The bleakest evaluation of the president’s suggested move comes from Donoghue:
Donoghue recounted telling Trump, “I’m telling you what’s going to happen.” “Your whole department’s leadership will depart. You will lose every single (assistant attorney general). Within hours, the whole department leadership will quit. And I’m not sure what happens next… What does that say about you?”
Evidence from the Jan. 6 committee: Does the Jan. 6 committee have compelling proof of Trump’s involvement in the assault on the Capitol?
The majority, if not all, of the testimony given during the House committee hearing on Thursday had already been recorded and made available to the public in a report by the Senate Judiciary Committee from the previous year.
However, the major witnesses’ testimonies—all Trump nominees—appeared to provide an even more compelling account of the previous president’s frantic attempts to retain power.
“They completed their tasks, “said Alberto Gonzales, a former George W. Bush administration attorney general.
“I’d like to assume that others will maintain the line in the same manner as they did. However, these were courageous guys, and I am proud of what they accomplished for our nation.
Alberto Gonzales, who has “fond feelings” about his service, is embraced by then-President George W. Bush as he exits the stage following the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. in April 2005.
Following Barr’s surprise public denunciation of Trump’s claims of election fraud and the announcement of his departure from the Justice Department in December 2020, the president immediately turned his attention to Rosen and Donoghue.
With the probable exception of Christmas, hardly a day passed where Trump did not ask Rosen to investigate ludicrous claims of election fraud, no matter how absurd.
In the final weeks of the administration, Clark was serving as acting chief of the department’s Civil Division. Rosen testified to the committee that it was around this time that he first overheard Trump refer to Clark in a “peculiar” manner.
Trump urged the DOJ nine times to reverse election results, according to a Senate subcommittee report titled “Subverting Justice.”
The environmental attorney Clark would later admit to having visited with Trump in the Oval Office as the president pushed Justice to take the lead in the battle against election fraud.
On June 13, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol held its second hearing. A video of former Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue was played on a screen.
Rosen said he and Donoghue were rapidly consumed with resisting Trump’s persistent calls for Justice to act, while reprimanding Clark for making the unlawful contact.
In no time at all, Trump demanded the appointment of a special prosecutor to look into widespread election fraud, demanded the confiscation of voting machines that he erroneously believed had been tampered with, and promoted the absurd theory that an Italian defence contractor had somehow uploaded software to a satellite that switched votes from Trump to Biden.
Each time, Justice officials retaliated, varyingly calling the allegations “absolute lunacy” and wholly without foundation.
The officials claimed that their comments only served to aggravate the president, who, according to Donoghue, made a surprising revelation during a contentious phone call in late December with Rosen and Donoghue, who took notes.
According to Donoghue’s notes, the president responded, “Just say the election was rigged and leave the rest to me and the Republican legislators.”
Home of Jeffrey Clark was searched the day before the hearing on January 6: Feds search Jeffrey Clark’s home, the former DOJ officer who is at the centre of Trump’s campaign to void the election.
Rosen and Donoghue would later learn that Clark was advocating for Trump more actively during this time.
After receiving an email from Clark on December 28, 2020 that contained a draught letter addressed to Georgia officials and falsely claimed that Justice had discovered “significant concerns” that could cast doubt on the outcome of the election in “multiple states, including the state of Georgia,” the Justice officials said they were shocked.
Donoghue testified, “I think would have had terrible ramifications for the country for the department to engage itself into the political process in this way.” “It very well may have sent us into a constitutional crisis,” the speaker said.
Donoghue claimed that the email resulted in a heated encounter with Clark during which he and Rosen reprimanded the lawyer.
However, the officials stated that Clark’s efforts continued as the president neared a decision to dismiss Rosen in favour of Clark, a supporter of the Justice Department.
Committee on January 6 is under threat: Rep. Adam Kinzinger of the GOP claims that the committee members’ exposure to violent threats has increased.
A House committee looking into the Capitol uprising on January 6 requested an extensive interview with Jeffrey Clark, but he declined. AAP’s Yuri Gripas
Donoghue described his conversations with Clark before the committee, saying, “I wanted to make sure that he realised the gravity of the situation, since he didn’t appear to truly comprehend it.
Rosen claimed that on Sunday afternoon, January 3, 2021, when Clark abruptly informed him that Trump had offered him Rosen’s job and that he was accepting it, the building situation reached a climax.
According to Rosen, he asked for a meeting with the president right away.
“Rosen said in court that he “wasn’t going to tolerate being dismissed by my subordinate” and that he wanted to speak with Trump one-on-one to attempt to persuade him not to “go down the incorrect route” that Clark was promoting.
In his testimony, Rosen stated that he did not want the Department of Justice to be placed in a position where it would act in a way that was inconsistent with the truth, its proper role, or the Constitution.
The principals met that evening in the White House, where Donoghue joined Rosen and Engel after the meeting started because he hadn’t had time to change out of his Army t-shirt and muddy boots.
Donoghue reacted angrily when the topic of Trump’s plan to nominate Clark came up.
What congressional campaigns are posting about the hearings on January 6th, broken down by party.
Donoghue testified, “It was a contentious discussion. In response, the president was told, “Mr. President, you’re talking about putting a man in that seat who has never tried a criminal case, who has never conducted a criminal investigation.”
Donoghue called the decision to promote Clark as a means of kicking up a national investigation on fictitious claims of election fraud “absurd.”
“It won’t happen, and it will fall flat.”
It wouldn’t stop there, either. A leadership crisis at Justice, according to Donoghue and Engel, would follow from the decision to elevate Clark.
Donoghue claimed that he warned Trump, “I’m not working for one minute with this guy… “Mr. President, due of your conduct, you might have hundreds of resignations from the top of your whole Justice Department within 24, 48, or 72 hours.”
Trump squinted.
White House and Justice aides provide insider reports of the January 6 Capitol attack, calling them “quite weird and somewhat disturbing.”
I’ll take the ‘fifth’
The frequently referenced protagonist of the political drama, Clark, was noticeably missing from the witness lineup at the hearing on Thursday.
Federal agents had Clark’s suburban Virginia house searched the morning of the hearing, it was revealed in the hours prior to the start of the hearing.
On Wednesday’s action, federal officials chose not to comment. Although Clark had been a senior fellow at the Republican Center for Renewing America under the leadership of former Trump administration official Russell Vought, the operation was labelled as a “pre-dawn raid” on Twitter by more than a dozen investigators. Vought claimed that Clark was put out on the street while still wearing his pyjamas.
Folks, this is not America, tweeted Vought. Government must stop being used as a weapon. Be extremely explicit with me. We support Jeff, and other Americans must do the same.
Where did Trump PAC funds go? The Trump campaign raised millions of dollars before January 6 to combat election fraud. This is how that cash was used.
Clark later described the search as “very politicised” and connected to separate searches conducted on the same day in various states in an interview with Tucker Carlson of Fox News. According to The Washington Post, the Justice Department was looking into strategies for overturning Biden’s victory by selecting other slates of state electors.
Although he chose not to answer any questions during a previous meeting with the committee, Clark did make a brief video appearance on Thursday during the session.
Clark cited his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination when asked about the letter that was sent to Georgia officials.
In response to a query, Clark said, “Fifth.”
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican from Illinois, speaks at the committee hearing on January 6.
The two Republican members of the special House committee were among those who spoke out most strongly in favour of the testimony given by the three former Justice officials on Thursday.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois said, “Well, we know these men before us did the right thing.”
He was alluding to Rosen, Donoghue, and Engel. “However, consider the consequences of a different choice by these Justice authorities.
What will occur if they give in to the pressure? How would that affect our democracy? as a country? Consider a scenario in which the president might ask prospective Justice Department hires: “Are you loyal to me or to the Constitution?”
At least 5 Republicans in the House asked for pardons: According to evidence, at least 5 House Republicans, including Brooks and Gaetz, requested pardons after January 6
Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who serves as vice-chair of the subcommittee, cautioned that the witnesses would probably face criticism for just coming forward.
Read more:-
- As hearings on January 6 go on, tension between Trump and McCarthy is still rising
- Emergency SNAP Benefits Are Increased in July
- Unexpected Things You Can Purchase in the Midwest With Food Stamps
Cheney repeated the former president’s go-to attack line: “After today, I believe that there will be some who name you agents of the ‘Deep State’ or something else conspiratorial or absurd, aimed to justify disregarding what you’ve stated today – rejecting the facts.”
“Acting honourably and stating the truth may have a short-term cost. But your decisions should have a significant long-term impact because they will keep us on the path that our Constitution’s creators intended.
