Part XI: "To Meddle in an Election"

Part XI: “To Meddle in an Election.” 

__________ 

“At this time we have identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple states, including the State of Georgia.” 

Draft letter to be signed by heads of the Department of Justice.

__________ 

Nixon famously claimed he was not a crook. But he was.

 

WATCHING the January 6 hearings, this blogger was reminded of the Watergate hearings, which he followed avidly during his college years. Yet there was one glaring difference. As evidence piled up between the summer of 1972, and August 1974, honorable Republicans came face to face with hard truths and did not blanch. They recognized that Richard M. Nixon, who had gone on television to tell the American people that he was “not a crook,” in fact, was. 

In those days, not even Nixon had the audacity to claim that everything illegal he was caught doing was “Fake News.” Or insist he could pardon himself. If there were members of Congress as craven as Rep. Matt Gaetz and Rep. Louie Gohmert, they never dared approach the White House and ask for “all-purpose” pardons, stretching “from the beginning of time” to the last moment of Donald J. Trump’s first term in office. 

Yet, as we learned during the fifth hearing, Gaetz, et. al., did seek blanket pardons from Trump. 

That wasn’t “Fake News.” We heard about the request from a White House lawyer, a member of the Trump administration.

 

For Jeffrey Clark, former Assistant Attorney General, this next congressional hearing proved ugly – the kind of proceeding that can lead to a stint in an orange jumpsuit. Clark was the linchpin in a last-ditch plan hatched by President Trump and the worst aides and advisors still willing to do his bidding. 

 

BLOGGER’S NOTE: If the people on Team Trump are seeking blanket pardons, and invoking the Fifth Amendment in court – hundreds of times – and the people on the other side are willingly testifying under oath, it’s safe to assume the people on Team Trump are, at best, trying to cover up the truth. Even more likely: They’re lying, because they’re crooks. 

 

Only one goal: “to stay in power.” 

Once again, we should remind readers that almost every witness called to this point had been a Republican. Many worked in the Trump White House. These were men and women selected to fill posts by Trump himself. Clark was an Assistant Attorney General for Civil Affairs, tasked with litigation in environmental matters. 

(He was forced to testify under subpoena, and repeatedly invoked the Fifth.) 

 

The three live witnesses for the Thursday hearing were former top officials at the Department of Justice: Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue, and Steven Engel, Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel. 

Mr. Engel explained to the Committee, and the American people watching – which, again, was no one watching Fox News – that it was part of his job to meet with the president and top administration officials when they required legal advice. He would offer options they might choose to achieve policy goals and would guide them around pitfalls if what they wished to do might be forbidden by law. 

All three had been nominated by Donald J. Trump, with Rosen serving in three successive posts in his administration. 

Fortunately, for those of us who treasure the rule of law, in weeks following the 2020 election, all three came to realize that a far-reaching scheme was afoot to keep the president in power. One foundation of the plot was to pollute the national discourse with false claims of voter fraud. The President of the United States, all three agreed (though none deployed the harshest word), was spreading lies. 

They politely, and repeatedly told him his allegations of voter fraud were untrue, unsupported by fact. 

 

The criminally inclined President of the United States. 

In case you’ve forgotten, Mr. Rosen took over at DOJ when his predecessor, Mr. Barr, resigned. 

Now it was Rosen’s turn to deal with the mercurial 45^th President of the United States. Rosen’s first official day in office was December 24, 2020. Under questioning from Committee members, he noted that starting on December 23, up through January 3, the president pressed him daily (except Christmas). He wanted Rosen to meet with Rudy Giuliani, who was helping spread the fairy tale of the “Stolen Election.” He wanted DOJ to file a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking justices to intervene in the final stages of election certification. He wanted the Justice Department to make a public statement supporting claims of widespread voter fraud. 

(That’s weaponizing the Department of Justice, for sure.) 

 

Rosen rebuffed each of the president’s entreaties. “We did not think they were appropriate based on the facts and the law as we understood them,” he told members of the Committee.  

In fact, Trump had been pressing DOJ for weeks. At a meeting on December 15, 2021, he brought up the vote in Antrim County, Michigan. He had a report, he said, that proved there had been a 68% error rate in Antrim. That was only possible if the machines were rigged. Mr. Engel was asked about such claims. Engel said the Department of Justice had examined all credible allegations, and to “this date” (the hearing date, he meant) there had been no evidence of widespread fraud. 

On December 21, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows put out a tweet amplifying his boss’s claims – inadvertently revealing a troubling gathering, just concluded. “Several members of Congress,” he wrote, “just finished a meeting in the Oval Office with the President @realDonaldTrump, preparing to fight back against mounting evidence of voter fraud. Stay tuned.” 

(There was no “mounting evidence” then; there isn’t now.) 

 

He “tried to educate the president.” 

Six days later, Donoghue had a 90-minute phone conversation with the president, during which he took notes. Trump brought up the Antrim claim, and aired a number of allegations. All had been discredited, Donoghue noted. He said that he was “very blunt.” He said he “tried to correct him in a serial fashion,” knocking down the president’s multiple misconceptions. A hand recount of the more than 15,000 votes in Antrim, for example, had shown the machines were off by a single vote, (the final mistake turned out to be twelve) not by 68% as Trump insisted. “What people are telling you is not true,” he told him. Donoghue said he “tried to educate the president,” for Trump’s own good. 

(Like trying to teach a goat to play the piano!)

The goat can't do it. The president refused to listen.

 

 

Trump had no interest in being educated. He brought up the story of a truck driver who claimed to have delivered a truckload of ballots from New York to Pennsylvania. (The same driver was a ghost hunter in his spare time, so there’s that.) Donoghue explained that that allegation had been investigated. 

The story was false. 

Trump insisted 200,000 Pennsylvania ballots had not been certified. He was told, again, that investigations revealed no evidence of serious fraud – almost none in fact – in any of the cases he had mentioned. 

 

“An obligation to tell people that this was an illegal, corrupt election.” 

Trump grew agitated. He wanted DOJ to investigate, to do his bidding. Donoghue said Justice could not just “snap its fingers” and change election results. According to Donoghue, Trump responded, “Just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressman.” 

(Think about that!) 

 

Those were the very lawmakers who had met with Chief of Staff Meadows six days before. They were the same who would, as the clock ran out on the Trump presidency, seek blanket pardons. 

Balked once more, Trump insisted that DOJ had “an obligation to tell people that this was an illegal, corrupt election.” 

Donoghue told the Committee that was a direct quote. He had it in his notes. Trump, he added, wanted DOJ to “put the stamp of approval” on the “Stolen Election” lie. 

Rosen was asked about Jeffrey Clark, and his position at Justice. He said he learned only afterwards that Clark had had a meeting at the White House with Trump on December 22. This was a clear violation of DOJ protocol. When Rosen questioned Mr. Clark, the latter claimed the meeting was “inadvertent.” 

Engel explained that DOJ limits who speaks to the president, because even the appearance of political interference can do serious damage.

 

White House Chief Counsel Pat Cipollone, we learned, also warned Mr. Clark to “stand down.” 

The meeting wasn’t inadvertent. Clark had been taken to the White House by Rep. Scott Perry, of Pennsylvania. Perry was one of the lawmakers working hardest to overturn the 2020 results. At one point, he insisted (and Trump believed) that more votes were certified in that state than had been cast. Donoghue explained. Four counties in Pennsylvania had failed to upload results to a state elections website. As for Perry’s claim of massive fraud, he said, “there was zero to that.” 

 

“You guys may not be following the internet the way I do.” 

It was now that a desperate president, listening to the worst legal voices he had left – those willing to lie – latched onto a wild idea. He would have the Department of Justice send a letter to the Governor of Georgia, with copies going to legislatures in key battleground states, as well as Trump allies in Congress. In that letter, top DOJ officials would say that there had been “widespread fraud” in the vote. The second sentence (the key) would read: “At this time we have identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple states, including the State of Georgia.” 

The problem, of course, was that the DOJ had not identified “significant concerns” in Georgia. 

Nor had they uncovered significant concerns “in multiple states.” 

Barr, and now Rosen, Donoghue, and Engel had made this abundantly clear. They had repeatedly informed Mr. Trump that his allegations of voter fraud were unsupported by fact. During one contentious exchange, Trump insisted that DOJ investigations couldn’t be right. He had all the evidence he needed. “You guys may not be following the internet the way I do,” he complained. 

(Who doesn’t believe what they read on the internet!)

Trump wins a "Clown Award" for that comment.

  

The three officials were unmoved. None would sign the letter. In fact, a draft had been prepared by Trump loyalists, with three signature lines. One for Rosen. One for Donoghue. One for Clark, later. 

Donoghue told the Committee that when he first read what he termed an “extreme” letter he had to read it twice. Horrified, he sat down to send a “prompt” response. He said that Justice would not “insert itself into the political process.” He warned Clark that he was asking DOJ “to meddle in an election.” 

(Trump fans curse Joe Biden today, saying it’s he who wants to “weaponize” DOJ.) 

 

“Not consistent with the truth, not consistent with the Constitution.” 

Rosen, who had a nervous tic, often tilting his head to the left and giving a little shake as if to clear his mind when answering, testified he had two reasons he had decided not to sign. 

First, the letter was “not consistent with the truth.” 

Second, it was “not consistent with the Constitution. ” For people of principle that would cinch. 

Rep. Adams Kinzinger, leading the questioning for the day, noted that the letter was the work of two individuals, Clark, and Ken Klukowski. The latter had been hired at DOJ on December 15, likely for one reason. Klukowski had worked with John Eastman – the mastermind of the plot to keep Trump in power. 

When Rosen and Donoghue refused to sign a false statement, Trump, who has no principles, except one (to do what is best for himself) latched onto the idea of firing Rosen and replacing him with Mr. Clark – a human being who looks like he was fashioned out of Silly Putty, and garbed in a suit. 

On January 3, 2021, a Sunday, with three days left until certification of the electoral votes, matters came to a head in an explosive meeting in the Oval Office. Rosen had called White House Chief of Staff Meadows, and set it up. 

If you missed the story – and if you were watching Fox News you did – Clark and the president ran into universal condemnation. 

(Fox News motto: “We shield viewers from news they won’t like.”)

 

Testifying via video, White House lawyer Eric Herschmann, who sat in that Sunday, said he had offered Clark blunt warning. If he went through with the letter, he would be taking his first step, as Acting Attorney General, to “committing a felony.” 

 

“Quit in a cascade.” 

White House Chief Counsel Pat Cipollone knew an illegal scheme when he heard it. According to the three witnesses testifying during the fifth hearing, he warned that the letter was a “murder-suicide pact.” He told everyone in the meeting “we should have nothing to do with it.” 

By this time, the plot to install Clark and send the bogus missive had advanced to the last step. According to White House phone logs, Clark and the president had been in contact since seven a.m. on January 3. In several earlier calls, the log identified him as “Mr. Jeffrey Clark.” At 4:19 p.m., that changed. The next call came from “Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Clark.” 

Now, in the Oval Office, Trump announced that he was ready to replace Rosen with Clark. “What have I got to lose?” he asked. Top DOJ officials wouldn’t do what he asked, as Rosen testified now, because the Department functioned on the basis of “facts, evidence, and the law.” None of which supported the plot. Rosen made clear: He had taken an oath to uphold the Constitution. 

He wouldn’t sign.  

Donoghue was ready with an answer to Trump’s question. “Mr. President,” he replied, “you have got a great deal to lose.” So did the DOJ, the country, and quite possibly the Constitution. He and Rosen had consulted with other top officials. Donoghue pointedly announced that he wouldn’t work “one minute for this guy,” motioning toward Clark. 

Engel was also seated in the meeting. Trump asked, “Steve, you wouldn’t resign, would you?” Engel had worked for the administration for four years. 

“I couldn’t be part of this,” he replied. 

Five other top officials at Justice had assured Donoghue. If Rosen was out, and Donoghue and Engel were out, they were out too. None had any hesitation. Those five were Assistant Attorney Generals Eric Dreiband, Claire Murray, Jeff Wall, David P. Burns and Makan Delrahim. All five had been appointed by President Trump, with Delrahim, a native of Iran, being gifted a red baseball cap with the words, “Makan Antitrust Great Again,” when he was sworn in. 

(That’s eight Trump appointees ready to resign.) 

 

A sixth Assistant AG, in charge of national security affairs, had also said he would resign, but given the nature of his duties, Rosen and Donoghue asked him to remain in his post. (This blog entry is based on the blogger’s notes, taken while listening to testimony. He failed to catch that official’s name). 

Donoghue went further. He warned the president that there would be a wave of resignations among U.S. District Attorneys, and that others at DOJ, and in district offices – likely hundreds – would “quit in a cascade.” 

Clark, he said, would be “leading a graveyard.” 

Mr. Clark has since been indicted.

With that, Clark’s chance of becoming Acting Attorney General died an ignominious death. Trump backed down – but we know now he wasn’t done. He had one last part of the plot that might work. 

For the next three days, he would redouble efforts to convince Vice President Pence to break the law. 

That same night, Clark had the nerve to call Donoghue at home. Trump had heard that there was a truckload of shredded ballots, down in Georgia, and that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent had the truck impounded. The agent supposedly wanted to know what to do. Donoghue said ICE would be under Homeland Security, but promised to let them know. 

By this time, if President Trump had suggested that an alien spaceship landed, and dropped off 81,000,000 ballots, all marked for Joe Biden, I imagine no one at DOJ would have been surprised. 

In fact, the truckload of shredded Biden ballots did not exist. 

Rep. Kinzinger closed the hearing for the day, saying it was now up to “every American to stand up for the truth.” 

(Once again, the MAGA folks had refused to watch.) 

 

If you can’t tell, Mr. Blogger has followed this story obsessively, always trying to adhere to known facts. (He does admit, he likes to make fun of the fabulous fools who fall for all of Trump’s lies.) But here’s a fact he missed. He had heard of Blake Meadows, in regard to some of the work Team Trump was doing to prove the election was stolen. He had not realized Blake was White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows’s son. 

It was not until August 2023 that he saw a story about a text Mark Meadows sent to a White House lawyer. In it, he admitted that his son, who had been working to find voter fraud in Georgia, had found only a handful of votes that might have been cast by dead people – whereas Trump had been claiming at least 5,000. 

(Sometimes, Trump liked to double that number for fun.) 

 

Nevertheless, a few days after sending that text, Meadows participated in the infamous call to Georgia officials, during which Trump asked them to “find” the 11,780 votes he would need to “win” the state and capture its electoral votes. 

During that call, Trump would repeat the “5,000 dead voters” claim – and the White House Chief of Staff would not interrupt. 

(Mark Meadows has also been indicted in the Georgia election fraud case.) 

(He has agreed to cooperate in the federal election fraud case.)

Mark Meadows - pointing at the other guy who committed all the felonies?

  

NOTE ON METHODOLOGY: The blogger readily admits he has a “bias” against Trump. That bias is: He doesn’t like people who want to overturn the U.S. Constitution. He doesn’t even have any friends who are liars – because he doesn’t like liars. 

But: We again use people who worked for Trump to prove our point. The man cannot be trusted. We bold names of individuals, or groups, who have every reason to believe Trump is lying. So, in just this post, we have: Rosen, Donoghue, Engel, and most of the top people at DOJ, whom Trump appointed. Even Blake Meadows has to know, his dad’s boss is a liar.