WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — Today’s January 6th committee hearing focused on the pressure campaign from the Trump White House inside the Department of Justice to overturn the 2020 election results.
“He thought the justice department had not done enough,” Former Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen said.
During the fifth hearing of the January 6th committee, former top DOJ officials told the panel, former President Donald Trump pushed them to overturn the election
“It was a brazen attempt to use the justice department to advance the president’s personal political agenda,” Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said.
Former Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue said the DOJ looked into the President’s claims of election fraud.
“Were any of the allegations he brought up, found credible, did you find any of them credible,” Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said.
“No,” Donoghue answered.
Donoghue and Rosen told the former president, they couldn’t change the election results.
“How did the president respond to that sir,” Kinzinger asked.
“He responded very quickly and said essentially that’s not what I’m asking you to do. What I’m asking you to do is say it was corrupt and leave it up to me and the Republican congressmen,” Donoghue said.
Both top officials said the President wanted someone in charge at the DOJ who would do what he wanted, but neither Donoghue nor Rosen would go along with his wishes.
“The United States Justice Department functions on facts, evidence, and law and those are not going to change so you can have whatever leadership you want but the department’s position is not going to change,” Donoghue said.
Evidence also shows that there was an effort by Rep. Scott Perry (R-Penn.) to get a new attorney general in position before January 6th. The January 6th hearings will resume after the summer recess.