Former DOJ Officials Testify that President Trump Pressured DOJ to Overturn 2020 Election in January 6th House Select Committee Hearing
On Thursday, June 9, 2022, the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol holds its first public hearing to begin the reveal of a year-long investigation (Courtesy of the January 6th Select Committee/Official Government Photo).
Former acting Attorney General Jeffery Rosen, former acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue, and the former head of DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel Steven Engel testified in front of the House Committee on January 6th, making statements that broaden the committee’s understanding of former President Trump’s demands for a Department of Justice investigation into the 2020 election.
Article by Emily Barkann, Chief White House Correspondent
WASHINGTON - The events leading up to the January 6th, 2021 insurrection are coming into focus following the fifth hearing of the House Select Committee on January 6th, with former acting Attorney General Jeffery Rosen, former acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue, and the former head of the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel Steven Engel testifying that former President Donald Trump heavily pressured the Department of Justice to overturn the 2020 election. In the fifth hearing, the House committee also learned that several Republican lawmakers who aided the former president requested pardon arrangements from top White House officials.
Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill) began the hearings by drawing attention to the shocking attitudes of former Trump administration Republicans. Kinzinger began the opening statements with a question. He asked what leaders of the Republican Party might respond with if asked, “Do you pledge loyalty to me, or to the country?” “It wouldn’t take long to find someone who is loyal to the man,” Kinziger responded to his own question.
From yesterday’s hearings, it is apparent that this mindset of “Trump loyalty” was glaringly obvious in Trump’s administration. Many officials in the White House were loyal to Trump rather than their country, but the three witnesses who sat before the House Select Committee are clearly loyal to country.
Extremely damning testimony was presented to the Committee, exemplifying President Trump’s repeated attempts to sway the Department of Justice into corroborating his story that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Former acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue informed the Committee that President Trump was convinced that there was a 60-percent ballot error rate. When the real error rate was calculated, it was .0063 percent, which is “well within tolerance,” Donoghue stated.
In the days leading up to January 6th, Donoghue testified that he had an unexpected conversation with the former president “about whether the president should remove Jeff Rosen [as attorney general] and replace him with Jeff Clark.” Donaghue made it extremely clear to the House Select Committee that he disagreed with Trump’s plan, responding to the president’s proposal by stating, “Mr. President, you have a great deal to lose.” The testimony pointed out that Donoghue clarified to the president and others in the meeting that he believed Clark was severely underqualified for the position. “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. He’s telling you that he’s going to take charge of the department, 115,000 employees, including the entire FBI, and turn the placed on a dime and conduct nationwide criminal investigations that will produce results in a matter of days,” Donoghue testified, “And do you really think that the FBI is going to suddenly start following your orders? It’s not going to happen. He’s not competent,” Donoghue continued.
As the committee neared the end of the fifth hearing, a video was played of Cassidy Hutchison, former Special Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff, testifying that several members of Congress including Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Mo Brooks (R-AL) approached her requesting pardons from the former president. “The only reason I know to ask for a pardon is because you think you’ve committed a crime,” Kinzinger stated following the video testimony.
There is no planned date for the next hearing. Subscribe to AKSM News to learn more about the January 6th Committee findings following the next hearing.