Senators investigating Trump’s attempt to overturn the results of last year’s election will next interview BJ Pak, the former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.
Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL) told reporters on Monday that his panel would interview the former federal prosecutor. His office declined to say when the interview of Pak would take place.
TPM first reported in January that Pak departed the Justice Department weeks before he was expected to, on Jan. 4. Pak’s departure came one day after a recording was released showing Trump bullying Georgia Gov. Brad Raffensperger (R) in an hourlong attempt to convince him to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the state.
Trump officials had forced Pak to resign, the Wall Street Journal reported, for not doing “enough” to investigate the bogus claims that the election had been stolen.
Durbin has mostly been conducting his investigative work in private. After Attorney General Merrick Garland allowed former Trump DOJ officials to testify about the attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election, Senate Judiciary has tried to jump at the chance.
Much of that testimony has centered on Jeffrey Clark, the former acting head of the DOJ’s civil division who reportedly urged top officials to accede to Trump’s requests to announce that the election was “corrupted.” Clark now works for a conservative non-profit that fights vaccine mandates.
Former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen reportedly rushed to testify to the committee before Trump could mobilize attorneys to sue to block the interview from taking place. Former acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue also testified before the committee in recent days.
Among other things, Rosen reportedly told the panel details about the extent of Trump’s involvement.
The House Oversight Committee has been conducting a parallel investigation into the Big Lie, and released notes last month taken by Donoghue during a Dec. 27 phone call with Trump and Rosen.
“Just say the election was corrupt,” Trump purportedly said on the call.
