WASHINGTON – House committee investigating Jan. 6 attack on Capitol plans to reveal new evidence Thursday about how President Donald J. Trump tried to manipulate the Justice Department to help him cling to power later of losing the 2020 election, his collegiate members said. Wednesday.
At its fifth public hearing this month, scheduled for 3 p.m. on Thursday, the panel is scheduled to hear testimony from three former senior Justice Department officials who are expected to set out the ways in which Mr. . Trump tried to misuse the attorney general’s office to overrule. his defeat, an extraordinary instance of a president interfering with the nation’s law enforcement apparatus for his personal purposes.
Committee aides said the panel would detail how Mr. Trump unsuccessfully pushed departmental officials to falsely state that there was widespread election fraud, file lawsuits for the benefit of his campaign, and appoint a conspiracy theorist as a special lawyer to investigate the election. He will also track down his failed efforts to send fake letters to state officials to subvert election results and ultimately to replace the incumbent Attorney General, who refused to follow his plans.
Mr. Trump finally backed down after agency officials threatened mass resignations, but the committee presents his actions as a critical thread in a multi-layered effort by the former president to subvert the election.
Witnesses scheduled to testify are Jeffrey A. Rosen, the former acting Attorney General; Richard P. Donoghue, the acting Deputy Attorney General; and Steven A. Engel, the former Deputy Attorney General of the Law Office.
The issues of the hearings of the House Committee on January 6
Representative Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican and a member of the committee, is expected to play a central role in the cross-examination of witnesses and the presentation of evidence. He hinted that the hearing could reveal more information about members of Congress who asked for pardons after Jan. 6.
The story of how Mr. Trump tried to intervene in the running of the Justice Department to stay in office has been well documented by both the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Jan. 6 House Committee, but House investigation aides said that Thursday’s hearing will contain new revelations.
Time and time again, department officials told Mr. Trump after the election that his allegations of widespread fraud were false and prompted him to withdraw from some of his most extreme proposals.
A dramatic moment came at an Oval Office meeting on January 3, 2021, when Jeffrey Clark, a little-known departmental lawyer who had been working out strategies for keeping Mr. Trump in power, suggested that the agency issue a legal opinion to Vice. President Mike Pence advised him on what action he could take during the joint session of Congress set for three days later, when lawmakers were to meet for the official election count that would confirm Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory.
“It’s an absurd idea,” Engel interposed, according to the testimony he gave to the committee. “It is not the role of the Department of Justice to provide legal advice to law enforcement officials on the scope of their duties.”
At that time, Mr. Trump spoke and told Justice Department officials, who repeatedly told him that his allegations of widespread fraud were false, that they should not talk to Mr. Pence.
“No one should be talking to the vice president here,” Trump said, according to Engel.
Mr. Trump would continue to repeatedly push Mr. Pence to try to undo the election results.
Also at that meeting, Mr. Trump proposed firing Mr. Rosen, who was informing him that the 2020 election was not stolen, and to replace him with Mr. Clark, who was willing to do his will.
“Sir, I would resign immediately,” Mr. Donoghue, according to a statement he made. “There’s no way to serve a minute under this guy,” he said of Mr. Clark.
Mr. Trump turned to Mr. Engel and he said, “Steve, I wouldn’t resign, would I?” Mr. Engel replied, “Absolutely I would, Mr. President. You will leave me no choice. “
Justice Department officials also witnessed the interactions between Pat A. Cipollone, the White House attorney, and Mr. Trump. The committee has called for Mr Cipollone to testify publicly, but has so far refused.
Mr. Cipollone rejected a plan presented by Mr. Clark, who wanted to distribute official letters to various state legislatures falsely warning them that the election could have been stolen and urging them to reconsider the certified election results.
“This letter that this guy wants to send, this letter is a murder-suicide pact,” Mr. Cipollone to Mr. Trump, according to Mr. Donoghue. “It will hurt everyone who touches it. And we should have nothing to do with this letter. I don’t want to see this letter again.”
The panel is scheduled to hold at least two more hearings in July, according to its chairman, Mississippi Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson. These sessions are expected to detail how a crowd of violent extremists attacked Congress and how Mr. Trump did nothing to stop the violence for more than three hours.