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Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee release duel reports over former President Donald Trump’s alleged pressure on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate allegations related to the December 2020 election, Republicans calling the allegations of their counterparts exaggerated.
The GOP report, which was led by Judicial Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, cited interviews with senior Justice Department officials, including former Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, to claim that Trump and his key aides “did not pressure” the DOJ to investigate specific election demands.
It also played down Trump’s alleged zeal to follow through on an idea by former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark to send a letter asking state legislatures to consider appointing replacement voters and fire Rosen.
The GOP report, for example, described a high-profile White House meeting on Jan. 3 as an effort to “formally and ultimately decide the issues at stake, which were twofold: whether to send Clark’s draft letter or not. ‘Rosen should be removed as Acting Attorney General and replaced by Clark. “
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The GOP report states that Trump “listened to all seven people” at the meeting and that this “resulted in President Trump’s rejection of sending Clark’s draft letter and rejecting Rosen’s termination.”
The Republicans ‘report came to very different conclusions than the Democrats’ interim report on the committee’s investigation. The New York Times released many details of the report on Thursday, including the fact that it will likely be released to the public this week.
According to the Times, the Democrats’ report called the January 3 meeting an intense exchange in which several senior Trump officials threatened to resign in order to prevent Trump from moving forward with a “murder-suicide pact. “.
“This report shows the American people how close we are to a constitutional crisis,” said Judicial Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Whose office led the committee’s main report, as reported. the Times.
Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, in October 2020.
(Susan Walsh / POOL / AFP via Getty Images, File)
The Republicans’ report, meanwhile, featured the same January 3 exchange noted in The Times as being more professional.
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“[Former Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard] Donoghue noted in his testimony that, until this meeting, President Trump had not fully understood the seriousness of his advisers’ concerns about Clark’s plan, which were serious enough that they and others Senior DOJ leaders have said they would resign if Clark was appointed acting prosecutor. general and its plan have been implemented, ”the GOP report said.
“President Trump then turned to Donoghue and asked him if he would resign if Clark became acting attorney general, to which he replied in the affirmative,” he continued. “President Trump also asked [then-Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel] Steve Engel, to which he also replied in the affirmative. After hearing all points of view, President Trump rejected Clark’s proposals and accepted the recommendations of his advisers. “
“I don’t know how you can come to a conclusion except Trump asked everyone in the White House to discuss it and unanimously except one they said you shouldn’t do what the lawyer said he thought the president should do. The president rejected it. The president did the right thing, “Grassley said when asked about the Democrats’ report.
“The president and the White House, especially a man named Jeffrey Clark… have pressured the acting attorney general to try to enlist them in the overturning of the last election results,” Durbin said of his interpretation of the report. “It was relentless.”
The investigation is notably not completed, because the Democrats’ report is technically an interim report. The committee still hasn’t interviewed Clark himself, for example.
The GOP report also downplayed the alleged seriousness of the actions of Trump and his advisers in relation to the Department of Justice on several other matters.
Senator Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Speaking to the Judiciary Committee in October 2020.
(AP Photo / Susan Walsh, Pool, File)
“Witnesses said that [then-Chief of Staff] Mark Meadows has not pressured them to take action regarding the investigation of the election allegations and has shown deference to the Justice Department’s judgment, ”a line in the executive summary read. report.
“Witnesses said they were under no pressure from President Trump or the White House to take action regarding the investigation of certain allegations of electoral fraud,” said another line.
“President Trump wanted to fire – but did not fire – [former U.S. Attorney] BJay Pak mainly because he believed Pak was a ‘never deceiver’, ”added another.
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But, despite the GOP’s characterization of Trump’s White House interactions with the Justice Department in particular, the former president has actively pushed false claims that the presidential election was stolen during this period. And, just days after the Jan. 3 meeting, Trump notably urged then-Vice President Mike Pence and Congressional Republicans to overturn the presidential election results when Congress convened to count electoral votes.
Only eight Senate Republicans voted that way, and Grassley was not one of them.
Fox News’ Kelly Laco and Jason Donner contributed to this report.
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