Subverting Justice: How the Former President and His Allies Pressured DOJ to Overturn the 2020 Election

"A . The Senate Judiciary Committee’s Investigation

On January 22, 2021, the New York Times reported that Jeffrey Bossert Clark, the former Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Civil Division, sought to involve DOJ in efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results and plotted with then President Trump to oust Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, who reportedly refused Trump’s demands.1 On January 23, 2021, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump had urged DOJ to file a lawsuit in the Supreme Court seeking to invalidate President Biden’s victory.2 These reports followed Trump’s months-long effort to undermine the results of the election, which culminated in the violent insurrection at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.

The Senate Committee on the Judiciary immediately launched an investigation into Trump’s reported efforts to enlist DOJ in his election subversion scheme. On January 23, 2021, the Committee asked DOJ to produce documents related to these efforts. DOJ cooperated with the Committee’s request, producing several hundred pages of calendars, emails, and other documents in the ensuing months.

On May 20, 2021, following DOJ’s production of emails from former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to Rosen asking DOJ to investigate several debunked election fraud claims, the Committee asked the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) for additional Trump White House records related to Trump’s attempts to secure DOJ’s help in overturning the election results. The Committee’s request sought White House records between November 3, 2020 and the end of Trump’s presidency related to meetings and communications between and among White House and DOJ officials. NARA has not responded to date, and has represented to the Committee that the delay in transitioning electronic Trump records from the White House to NARA may prevent the Committee from obtaining a response for several more months.

In addition to obtaining and reviewing documents, the Committee interviewed key former DOJ personnel, including Rosen, former Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue, and former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia Byung Jin (“BJay”) Pak. DOJ and the White House authorized these witnesses to testify about their internal communications without restriction, citing the Committee’s “compelling legislative interests … in understanding these extraordinary events: namely, the question whether former President Trump sought to cause the Department to use its law enforcement and litigation authorities to advance his personal political interests with respect to the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The Committee also requested to interview Clark, whom DOJ authorized to testify on the same terms as the other former DOJ officials. DOJ authorized Clark’s appearance on July 26, 2021. More than two months after DOJ authorized him to testify without restriction, Clark still has not agreed to the Committee’s request that he sit for a voluntary interview..."
Overturn 2020 Election Pressure