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Updated June 16th, 2021 at 07:44 IST

US: Emails show Donald Trump pressured Justice Department over 2020 election

New emails have revealed how former US President Donald Trump's allies tried to involve the Department of Justice in their false claims of elections in 2020.

Reported by: Apoorva Kaul
Donald Trump
IMAGE: AP | Image:self
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New emails have revealed how former United States President Donald Trump's allies tried to involve the Department of Justice in their false claims of election fraud. The emails, released Tuesday by the House Oversight Committee, reveal in new detail how Trump, his White House chief of staff, and other allies pressured members of the U.S. government to challenge the 2020 election over false claims.

Trump allies pressured Department of Justice 

The emails show how Trump worked to push then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen in his campaign’s failing legal efforts to challenge the 2020 election result. The documents also show how Rosen dealt with the political pressure coming from the White House. "These documents show that President Trump tried to corrupt our nation's chief law enforcement agency in a brazen attempt to overturn an election that he lost," committee chairwoman Carolyn Maloney said.

The emails, which range from mid-December up to the days before the Jan 6 Capitol insurrection, show how Trump, his White House aides and his outside allies repeatedly pressured DOJ officials, the committee said. On December 14, Trump’s assistant emailed then-Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen a raft of attachments claiming an election "Cover-up" was taking place in Michigan, the panel said.

After two minutes, President Trump’s assistant sent these documents to Mr. Rosen, then-Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue, through his assistant. He sent the same documents to the US Attorneys for the Eastern and Western Districts of Michigan. About 40 minutes later, after sending this voter fraud information, President Trump tweeted that Attorney General Barr who had said publicly that he had not seen widespread election fraud would be stepping down.

Later in December, Trump’s assistant emailed a draft legal brief to Rosen, Donoghue and acting Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall. The draft 54-page complaint demanded that the Supreme Court “declare that the Electoral College votes cast” in six states that President Trump lost "cannot be counted." They requested that the Court order a “special election” for president in those states. On the very same day, a private attorney, Kurt Olsen, contacted multiple senior DOJ officials on President Trump’s behalf to urge them to file this complaint.

Trump considered replacing Rosen with a more loyal ally, Jeffrey Clark, and even looked into whether the White House could appoint a special counsel without the Justice Department’s approval. On Jan. 1, for example, Meadows asked Rosen to have Clark investigate “signature match anomalies in Fulton county, GA.”

It didn’t happen, and on Jan. 3 another Justice official wrote that the “cause of justice won.”

Three days later, hundreds of pro-Trump rioters broke into the Capitol, attacking police and causing dozens of injuries, causing $1.5 million in damage and sending lawmakers fleeing for their lives. Five people died, including a police officer who collapsed that day. At least 400 people have been arrested in connection with the riot, the largest Justice Department prosecution in history.

(With inputs from AP)

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Published June 16th, 2021 at 07:44 IST

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