Some Key Takeaways:
- The report zeroes in on the Jan. 3 Oval Office meeting with DOJ bigwigs.
- Jeff Clark spearheaded the campaign to have the DOJ declare the election corrupt.
- DOJ leadership threatened to resign en masse if Trump installed Clark as acting attorney general.
- White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and his deputy Patrick Philbin threatened to resign as well.
- The panel confirmed that Trump wanted to fire U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia BJay Pak because he believed the prosecutor was a “never-Trumper,” sparking Pak’s forced resignation.
- Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) played a key role in pressing a DOJ official to participate in the Big Lie.
The Senate Judiciary Committee released a sweeping, 400-page report on Thursday delving into former President Trump’s attempts to wield the Justice Department to subvert the 2020 election.
The report documents efforts that include the forced resignation of U.S Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia BJay Pak, as first reported by TPM, and former assistant attorney general Jeffrey Bossert Clark’s attempts to have the DOJ declare the election tainted by fraud.
The report, issued by Democrats in the majority, is based in part on interviews with senior Trump-era DOJ officials who were allowed to testify after Attorney General Merrick Garland waived privilege that would normally have barred them. Clark, the panel said, has not yet agreed to testify, while the National Archives have yet to supply the panel with documents. The Committee’s probe is ongoing.
“This report shows the American people just how close we came to a constitutional crisis,” Judiciary Committee Chair Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) said in a statement.
Read the report here:
