Former US lawyer in Atlanta says brutal resignation was due to failing to peddle Trump’s election fraud allegation

A former US lawyer in Atlanta told a Senate panel on Wednesday that he abruptly resigned his post in January because Justice Department officials reported to the former president Trump wanted to fire him for not validating his claims about Widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, The New York Times reported.

In a closed-door session with the Senate Judiciary Committee, Byung Pak told congressional investigators that Justice Department officials told him that the former president intended to fire him because he refused to support false claims that the 2020 election was undermined by electoral fraud in Georgia, the newspaper reported, citing someone familiar with Pak’s testimony.

The testimony stems from events that occurred several days before Pak’s resignation.

Two days before Pak announced his departure, Trump lobbied Georgian Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in a phone call to investigate his allegations of electoral fraud in the state – allegations that Raffensperger did not were factually not substantiated, the Times noted, citing an audio leak.

During the call, Trump also called Pak an “American lawyer never Trump.”

The next day, Trump met with Jeffrey Clark, former acting head of the DOJ’s civilian division under the former president, and acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen, where he expressed frustration that the Justice Department had validated the results of the state elections, the newspaper reported. .

A senior department official quickly contacted Pak after the meeting to tell him that the president was angry with him for not supporting his widespread electoral fraud plots, the newspaper reported. The next day, Pak announced his resignation.

Pak’s resignation is part of a larger probe by the Senate panel that investigates the weeks between the 2020 elections and President BidenJoe BidenBiden pushes to support Florida schools amid DeSantis Cuomo mask dispute resigns after investigation found he harassed divided female GOP governors over response to COVID-19 PLUS outbreakand how the White House sought to pressure the Justice Department to withhold unconfirmed claims that the 2020 election was rigged.

Rosen also spoke to Senate panel investigators last week as well as the Justice Department’s Inspector General’s office.

The Hill has contacted Trump and Pak’s office for comment.