DC (June 23) – On the fifth day of congressional hearings on the attack on the U.S. Capitol by Donald Trump’s followers on January 6, 2021, it was revealed that the former president had pressed the Justice Department to help him cling to power after losing the 2020 election.
Three former top department officials testified before the House select committee investigating the attack: acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, his deputy Richard Donoghue, and the head of the Office of Legal Counsel at the time, Steven Engel.
The following are key points that emerged from the hearing on Thursday:
TRUMP MADE AN ATTEMPT TO DISMISS THE ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL
Trump felt the Justice Department was not doing enough to investigate or validate his allegations of election fraud, and this angered him.
Attempts to maintain power became increasingly critical for Trump between December 23, 2020 and January 3, 2021, therefore he met with or called Rosen practically every day during that time. He suggested Rosen try several strategies, including bringing in a special counsel to look into allegations of electoral meddling.
Donoghue recalled that during a meeting on December 27th, Trump told Rosen, “What I’m just asking you to do is just say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen.” Rosen had just explained that the Justice Department could not simply snap its fingers and change the outcome of the election.
Environmental attorney at the Justice Department who supported Trump, Jeffrey Clark, was instrumental in the president’s efforts to overturn his loss to Democratic candidate Joe Biden by using the department’s resources.
Angered by Rosen, the conventional chain of command was ignored as Clark visited with Trump in the Oval Office on many occasions without informing White House lawyer Pat Cipollone or Justice Department officials.
Clark informed Rosen on January 3, 2021, that Trump had given him the office of attorney general, and that he intended to accept. Rosen, Donohue, and Engel tried to persuade Trump not to sign the order by requesting an emergency meeting with the president at the White House.
Donoghue testified that he warned Trump that if he fired Rosen, the whole senior team in the department would resign within hours. After Trump asked Engel if he planned to resign as well, Engel said he would be joining him and that Clark “would be left managing a graveyard.”
Donoghue claimed that Trump was swayed by the final comment and abandoned his strategy as a result.
MEETING ON NEW YEARS EVE
Trump asked Rosen and Donoghue, who were in the White House on New Year’s Eve to discuss immigration, why the Justice Department had not confiscated voting equipment that Trump supporters said had been manipulated to steal the election.
Donoghue said that Trump was upset by Rosen’s statement that his department lacked the legal power to take such an action.
Rosen informed Trump that DHS had looked into the matter and determined that the voting equipment were not at fault.
Donald Trump said at the end of the meeting, “People tell me I should just get rid of both of you.”
According to what Donoghue claimed he told Trump: “You, Mr. President, are entitled to the kind of leadership you seek. However, you should know that the United States Department of Justice bases its decisions on evidence and the law. And those won’t be shifting any time soon.”
THE “SUICIDE-KILLING” LETTER
To cast doubt on Biden’s victory, Clark wrote a letter to state legislatures in many states with Republican majorities, including Georgia.
The Justice Department’s concerns regarding election results in various states were expressed in a letter. Before it was written, the department had already concluded that no major fraud had taken place.
To quote the Republican vice chair of the committee, “Donald Trump offered Mr. Clark the role of acting attorney general, replacing Mr. Rosen, with the understanding that Mr. Clark would send this letter and perform other acts the president wanted,” Clark accepted the offer.
Once Rosen and Donoghue declined to sign the letter, it was never sent. The White House counsel, Cipollone, deemed the letter so poisonous that its release would constitute a “murder-suicide,” and he recommended that it be destroyed immediately.
SATELLITES FROM ITALY
After hearing a conspiracy theory circulating online that an Italian defense contractor had uploaded software to a satellite that shifted votes from Trump to Biden, Trump urged officials from the Justice Department to look into the matter.
According to Rosen, the former U.S. intelligence officer’s conspiracy hypothesis has been disproved.
Representative Scott Perry, a Republican, asked Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, via text message, “Why can’t we just work with the Italian government?”
As an example of Trump abusing government machinery for his own objectives, the committee cited a phone conversation made by then-Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller to the U.S. military attache at the embassy in Italy to request an investigation.
CONSERVATIVE PARDONS
Five Republican members of Congress who supported Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss reportedly asked the White House for pardons.
Representatives Andy Biggs, Mo Brooks, Matt Gaetz, Louie Gohmert, and Scott Perry, according to video evidence from White House staff, sought pardons that would have protected them from punishment.
Republican U.S. Representative Adam Kinzinger, who has taken a lot of flak from his Democratic colleagues, delivered a biting remark to the committee: “The only reason I know to apply for a pardon is because you think you’ve committed a crime.”
As the reason for his pardon request, Brooks stated his “fear that Democrats would abuse the court system by prosecuting and jailing Republicans.”
What’s Your Take On This Obvious Pork?
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ISTHATPORKS TAKE:
The Self-Inflicted Pork of Donald Trump continues as evidence comes out the wazu of him pressuring and changing his DOJ official. At this point, with all being discovered, a fool should understand Donald Trump should forever be the poster boy of a deterrent as a human. All because the "BOY" in him can't say he made a mistake. That simple ATOM is the reason why we're here. It really is as simple as that. He should be every parent's dream example of what they don't want their kids to grow up like. They should point to all these examples as the worst of a human which no one should be like. We've said it before and we'll say it again until he stops us from saying it by changing his actions. "He is the epitome of PORK. A BLACK HOLE so BIG to everyone's star that many don't understand what they are seeing till it's too late. Until they're sucked up by his gravitational pull. Until there's a Jan 6th. Until they are dead or in Jail. Now there's a gun to democracy. A gun that was formed by his energy and financed by the people that voted for him. Yep! That's you too. Now that's your energy. Pat yourself on the back " YOU'RE PORK!"
On Oct. 28 (UPI) — Her office sent a statement on Friday saying that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, had been attacked by a home invader.
At a press conference held by the San Francisco Police Department, the suspect, 42-year-old David Depape, was named as the attacker. According to Sgt. William Scott, when police arrived, they saw Depape with a hammer and Paul Pelosi, 82, holding onto it.
Then, Depape took the hammer from Paul Pelosi and started hitting him with it until police arrived and took him into custody.
According to reports from CNN, NBC, and the New York Times, citing unnamed law enforcement officials, the assailant entered the couple’s San Francisco home early on Friday morning looking for the Speaker.
After being arrested, Depape was taken into custody and lodged in the San Francisco County Jail on “many other felony” counts, including attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, burglary, and more.
“Where is Nancy? Where is Nancy,” the assailant asked Paul Pelosi, according to the sources.
Pelosi’s husband, Paul, was “violently assaulted,” according to a statement released by Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., through spokesman Drew Hammill.
“The attacker is currently in police custody, and the circumstances surrounding the attack are being probed. Mr. Pelosi has been hospitalized and is receiving top-notch care; he is anticipated to make a full recovery “the report indicated.
According to Hammill, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi was not in the Bay Area at the time.
The Speaker and her family “request privacy at this time” and “express gratitude to the first responders and medical personnel involved.”
Forensics in San Francisco At 2:27 a.m. PDT, according to Sergeant Adam Lobsinger, police were called to the Pelosi home. Paul Pelosi was rushed to the hospital, and the suspect was taken into jail.
Vice President Joe Biden issued the following statement through White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre:
“The president is praying for Paul Pelosi and for Speaker Pelosi’s whole family. This morning he called Speaker Pelosi to express his support after this horrible attack. He is also very glad that a full recovery is expected. The president continues to condemn all violence and asks that the family’s desire for privacy be respected.”
If she loses to Democrat Katie Hobbs in Arizona on November 8, Republican gubernatorial contender Kari Lake has declined to declare if she will accept defeat.
Lake refused to accept the election results many times when asked by CNN’s “State of the Union” moderator Dana Bash on Sunday. Lake insisted that she was going to win the election.
Lake declared, “I’m going to win the election, and I will accept that result,” simultaneously saying that Hobbs was a racist.
Bash questioned Lake, “If you lose, will you accept that?” throughout the conversation.
Lake repeated, “I’m going to win the election, and I will accept that results.”
Originally, on October 12, Arizona PBS was going to have a televised discussion between Lake and Hobbs, but Hobbs bowed out, claiming that Lake was “just interested in making a spectacle” and labeling Lake a “conspiracy theorist.”
“Kari Lake has made it clear time and time again that she’s not interested in having substantive, in depth conversations about the issues that matter to Arizonians,” Hobbs told Bash on Sunday’s CNN broadcast. “She only wants a scenario where she can control the dialogue, and she’s refused to sit down in a one-on-one lengthy conversation to really clarify with Arizonians where she is on the issues.”
After the Arizona Citizens Clean Election Commission, which had collaborated with PBS to host the debate, backed out, Arizona PBS had planned to interview Lake this Wednesday instead of holding the debate.
Lake has worked with Fox News before. At present, Hobbs is Arizona’s Secretary of State. On Thursday, a Fox 10 Phoenix/InsiderAdvantage survey showed that Lake had a four-point lead over Hobbs in the campaign for governor.
In addition to having the endorsement of the former president, Trump ally and Republican Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga), Lake also has the backing of MyPillow CEO and conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell.
She also helps promote Trump’s false allegations that significant voter fraud occurred in the 2020 election, despite the fact that the Justice Department has found no evidence to support such accusations.
According to Lake, both Trump and Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, have “BDE,” or “big dick energy.”
DeSantis, she continued, “has BDE;” she didn’t know if the audience was familiar with the term. Does anyone have any idea what that means? Ask your kids about it later.”
On Friday, the Justice Department issued a partially redacted search warrant affidavit detailing the reasons FBI investigators visited the Florida property of former President Donald Trump this month.
As part of an ongoing criminal investigation into whether or not Trump illegally removed White House records before he left office in 2021, a search was done. In order to safeguard witnesses and the legitimacy of the inquiry, U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart mandated the release of the affidavit while allowing for redactions.
Probable cause is stated for both the existence of classified materials at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, and for the existence of “evidence of obstruction” there.
The statement also said there was reasonable suspicion that “evidence, contraband, fruits of crime, or other goods illegally possessed” would be located at Trump’s residence.
After leaving office, presidents are obligated to provide the National Archives with a large quantity of paperwork. Since last year, the National Archives and Records Administration has been pestering Trump to return documents that belong in the archives.
On Friday, an affidavit was made public claiming that federal officials suspected Trump was hiding secret materials after reviewing several boxes of Trump’s donated records to the archives. Several of the papers contained the “HSC” marks that denote top secret information.
According to the affidavit, the National Archives sent the case to the FBI in February. The FBI wanted to know who took the documents from the White House without permission, how they got there, and if Mar-a-Lago was a legitimate storage facility.
There are many potential violations of federal law listed in the affidavit, including a law that makes it illegal to steal materials relevant to national defense and not return them to the United States government. Any person who violates 18 U.S.C. 793 (e) is subject to a 10-year prison sentence and penalties.
The affidavit also refers to 18 U.S.C. 1519, which provides that anybody who obstructs justice may be subject to a fine and/or imprisonment of up to 20 years.
According to the affidavit, the government made numerous attempts to obtain the files months before the search was conducted.
On June 8th, the government addressed a letter to Trump’s legal team reiterating that “Mar-a-Lago does not have a safe place permitted for the preservation of sensitive material.” All White House items and the secure location where they are being housed were requested in the letter.
The New York Times, CNN, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal, among others, had requested that Reinhart unseal the search papers in the interest of openness and transparency.
The Justice Department persuaded Reinhart, he said on Thursday, that certain parts of the affidavit should remain sealed because their release would reveal “(1) the identities of witnesses, law enforcement agents, and uncharged parties, (2) the investigation’s strategy direction, scope, sources, and methods, and (3) grand jury information.”
According to Reinhart’s analysis, the government proved its case that the withheld information is little and necessary to safeguard the operation.
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