Trump and Justice Dept. Lawyer Said to Have Plotted to Oust Acting Attorney General

Authored by nytimes.com and submitted by Jeffmister
image for Trump and Justice Dept. Lawyer Said to Have Plotted to Oust Acting Attorney General

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department’s top leaders listened in stunned silence this month: One of their peers, they were told, had devised a plan with President Donald J. Trump to oust Jeffrey A. Rosen as acting attorney general and wield the department’s power to force Georgia state lawmakers to overturn its presidential election results.

The unassuming lawyer who worked on the plan, Jeffrey Clark, had been devising ways to cast doubt on the election results and to bolster Mr. Trump’s continuing legal battles and the pressure on Georgia politicians. Because Mr. Rosen had refused the president’s entreaties to carry out those plans, Mr. Trump was about to decide whether to fire Mr. Rosen and replace him with Mr. Clark.

The department officials, convened on a conference call, then asked each other: What will you do if Mr. Rosen is dismissed?

The answer was unanimous. They would resign.

Their informal pact ultimately helped persuade Mr. Trump to keep Mr. Rosen in place, calculating that a furor over mass resignations at the top of the Justice Department would eclipse any attention on his baseless accusations of voter fraud. Mr. Trump’s decision came only after Mr. Rosen and Mr. Clark made their competing cases to him in a bizarre White House meeting that two officials compared with an episode of Mr. Trump’s reality show “The Apprentice,” albeit one that could prompt a constitutional crisis.

kneeco28 on January 23rd, 2021 at 01:21 UTC »

Mr. Trump declined to comment.

This is a sad and maddening story of lawlessness and corruption, but I must say I love the sentence "Mr. Trump declined to comment."

Not "The White House". Not even "The Trump campaign". Just some guy.

CarbonRevenge on January 23rd, 2021 at 00:56 UTC »

Clark trying to do a coup in the DoJ. Of course. And he reads online conspiracies much like the former POTUS.

jcepiano on January 23rd, 2021 at 00:56 UTC »

The Justice Department’s top leaders listened in stunned silence this month: One of their peers, they were told, had devised a plan with President Donald J. Trump to oust Jeffrey A. Rosen as acting attorney general and wield the department’s power to force Georgia state lawmakers to overturn its presidential election results.

Mr. Trump was about to decide whether to fire Mr. Rosen and replace him with Mr. Clark.

The department officials, convened on a conference call, then asked each other: What will you do if Mr. Rosen is dismissed?

The answer was unanimous. They would resign.

We were one step away from another Saturday Night Massacre at the Justice Department. This reporting will bolster Trump's impeachment case and that he was seeking to abuse his office to stay in power.