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Trump Pushed DOJ to Seize Voting Machines & Declare Election Results “Corrupt”

HeadlineJun 24, 2022

The House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection has revealed Donald Trump heavily pressured the Justice Department to help him overturn the 2020 election. At a hearing on Thursday, former top DOJ officials said Trump urged the department to seize voting machines, declare the election results corrupt and investigate bizarre conspiracy theories. During Thursday’s hearing, video was aired of former Attorney General William Barr suggesting Trump came very close to staying in power.

William Barr: “If the position of the department was we’re not even looking at this until after Biden’s in office, I’m not sure we would have had a transition at all.”

During Thursday’s hearing, former acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue was questioned by Republican Congressmember Adam Kinzinger about Trump’s efforts to pressure acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger: “You also noted that Mr. Rosen said to Mr. Trump, quote, 'DOJ can't and won’t snap its fingers and change the outcome of the election.’ How did the president respond to that, sir?”

Richard Donoghue: “He responded very quickly and said, essentially, ’That’s not what I’m asking you to do. What I’m just asking you to do is just say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen.’”

Many of Trump’s efforts to push the Department of Justice involved a lower-level DOJ attorney named Jeffrey Clark, whom Trump considered naming attorney general. On Wednesday morning, the FBI raided Clark’s home.

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