Sunday, 8 August 2021 (YJC)_ Former acting Attorney General sat for hours of congressional testimony reportedly testifying on former President’s efforts to undermine the results of the 2020 election.
Former acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen sat for hours of congressional testimony on Saturday, reportedly testifying on former President Trump’s efforts to undermine the results of the 2020 election.
Rosen was interviewed by staff members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, lawmakers on the panel confirmed. The committee is probing efforts by Trump allies to interfere in the 2020 election results.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a member of the committee, told reporters that he sat through the interview on Saturday.
“I was struck by how close the country came to total catastrophe,” Blumenthal said, adding there were some “highly significant leads” that the panel should pursue.
“Of course, the chairman is the one to decide, but there were some highly significant leads that unquestionably the Judiciary Committee should pursue,” he added.
Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said in an interview this week that the committee is looking at "what happened in those days after the November election and before President Biden was sworn in."
"There was a lot of activity by Trump personally and by those supporting him to try to put pressure on the Department of Justice to back up his whacky 'big lie' theories," Durbin said on MSNBC, adding the Judiciary panel wanted to make a "record" of who helped or opposed Trump's efforts.
News of Rosen's testimony Saturday was first reported by The New York Times, which also reported that Rosen spoke with the Justice Department inspector general's office on Friday and reached out to DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz directly and pledged to cooperate with the investigation.
Rosen told the inspector general's office about five encounters with Jeffrey Clark, who served as acting head of the DOJ's civil division under Trump. During one encounter, Clark admitted to meeting Trump and promised to not do so again, the Times reported.
Rosen also reportedly testified that Clark engaged in unauthorized conversations with Trump about publicly casting doubt on the election result in several key battleground states like Georgia.
The Times reported that Rosen additionally said Clark asked him to send a letter to Georgia legislators asking them to void the election result, saying the DOJ was looking into claims of voter fraud.
The investigations came after the newspaper reported in January that Trump sought to replace Rosen with Clark in a bid to pressure politicians to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia, a state that President Biden narrowly won.
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