Five takeaways from the fifth day of Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot hearings
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[June 24, 2022]
By Ross Colvin
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The fifth day of
congressional hearings on the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol
by Donald Trump's supporters heard how the then-president pressured the
Justice Department to help him hold onto power after he lost the 2020
election.
The House of Representatives select committee investigating the attack
received testimony from three former top department officials -
then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, his deputy Richard Donoghue,
and the then-head of the Office of Legal Counsel, Steven Engel.
Here are takeaways from Thursday's hearing:
TRUMP TRIED TO FIRE HIS ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL
Trump was frustrated by what he saw as the Justice Department's inaction
investigating or validating his false claims of election fraud.
Between Dec. 23, 2020, and Jan. 3, 2021, Trump called or met Rosen
almost every day as his efforts to hold onto power became more urgent.
He wanted Rosen to pursue various avenues, including appointing a
special counsel to investigate suspected election fraud.
When Rosen told Trump in a Dec. 27 meeting that the Justice Department
could not just snap its fingers and change the outcome of the election,
Trump quickly responded, "What I'm just asking you to do is just say it
was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen,"
Donoghue recalled.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Jun/24/images/ads/current/LPL_small%201.gif)
A Trump-supporting Justice Department environmental lawyer, Jeffrey
Clark, was a key player in Trump's efforts to use the department to aid
his efforts to overturn his election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
Clark met with Trump in the Oval Office several times without the
knowledge of White House counsel Pat Cipollone or Justice Department
leadership, bypassing the normal chain of command and angering Rosen.
On Jan. 3, 2021, Clark told Rosen that Trump had offered him the
position of attorney general and that he was going to accept. Rosen
sought an urgent meeting with Trump at the White House, along with
Donoghue and Engel, to talk him out of it.
Donoghue testified he told Trump that the entire department leadership
would resign within hours if he fired Rosen. Trump turned to Engel and
asked him if he would quit too, to which Engel replied that he would and
that Clark "would be left leading a graveyard."
The last comment appeared to help sway Trump to back down from his plan,
Donoghue said.
NEW YEAR'S EVE MEETING
Rosen and Donoghue attended a meeting with the president at the White
House on New Year's Eve where Trump asked why the Justice Department had
not seized voting machines that Trump supporters alleged had been
manipulated to steal the election.
Rosen said his department had no legal authority to take that step, a
response that did not sit well with Trump, Donoghue recalled.
Rosen told Trump that the Department of Homeland Security had
investigated the issue and found nothing wrong with the voting machines.
At the meeting's end, Trump said, "People tell me I should just get rid
of both of you."
Donoghue said he told Trump: "Mr. President, you should have the
leadership that you want. But understand the United States Justice
Department functions on facts, evidence and law. And those are not going
to change."
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![](../images/062422PIX/news_s43.jpg)
Actor Sean Penn sits with former Washington police officer Michael
Fanone, Metropolitan police officer Daniel Hodges and Metropolitan
police officer Harry Dunn, all of whom were assaulted during the
January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, during the fifth public
hearing of the U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the event,
on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., June 23, 2022. REUTERS/Jim
Bourg
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Jun/24/images/ads/current/graue_22SILVERADO_061822.png)
THE 'MURDER-SUICIDE' LETTER
Clark drafted a letter to be sent to state legislatures in some
Republican-controlled states, including Georgia, that aimed to sow
doubts about Biden's election win.
The letter alleged that the Justice Department had concerns about
election results in multiple states. By the time it was written the
department had already determined that no widespread fraud had
occurred.
"Donald Trump offered Mr. Clark the job of acting attorney general,
replacing Mr. Rosen, with the understanding that Mr. Clark would
send this letter and take other actions the president requested,"
said Representative Liz Cheney, the committee's Republican vice
chair.
The letter was never sent after Rosen and Donoghue refused to sign
it. Cipollone, the White House counsel, said the letter was so toxic
that it should never be seen again because if it was ever made
public it would be a "murder-suicide."
ITALIAN SATELLITES
Trump pressed Justice Department officials to investigate a baseless
internet-based conspiracy theory that an Italian defense contractor
had uploaded software to a satellite that switched votes from Trump
to Biden.
Rosen said the conspiracy theory promoted by a former U.S.
intelligence officer had been debunked.
Republican congressman Scott Perry texted Trump's chief of staff
Mark Meadows to ask him, "Why can't we just work with the Italian
government?"
Then-Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller placed a call to the
U.S. military attache at the embassy in Italy to seek an
investigation, the committee said, citing it as an example of how
Trump used the machinery of government to pursue his own personal
ends.
REPUBLICAN PARDONS
At least five congressional Republican allies of Trump's sought
White House pardons after supporting his attempts to overturn his
2020 election defeat, witnesses told the committee.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Jun/24/images/ads/current/ldn_sda_062409.png)
In video testimony, White House aides said Representatives Andy
Biggs, Mo Brooks, Matt Gaetz, Louie Gohmert and Scott Perry sought
pardons that could have inoculated them against prosecution.
U.S. Representative Adam Kinzinger, a Republican on the Democrat-led
committee who has withstood a torrent of criticism from his parthy
brethren, offered a scathing quip, telling the committee: "The only
reason I know to ask for a pardon is because you think you've
committed a crime."
In a statement, Brooks said he had sought a pardon because of "a
concern Democrats would abuse the judicial system by prosecuting and
jailing Republicans."
(Writing by Ross Colvin; Reporting by Doina Chiacu, Moira Warburton,
Sarah N. Lynch and Rose Horowitch; Editing by Scott Malone and
Howard Goller)
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