15 Key Takeaways from the Fifth January 6 Hearing
On Thursday, June 23, the nonpartisan January 6 Committee held its fifth public hearing.
The committee again showed how Trump led a multi-step effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election, despite knowing he fairly lost his re-election bid. In the fifth hearing, the committee focused on Trump’s efforts to use the Department of Justice (DOJ) to support this illegal scheme. This included replacing the Attorney General who was unwilling to go along with the plan with a loyalist willing to break the law.
Common Cause compiled the key takeaways in tweets:
1. To stay in power, Donald Trump waged a coordinated pressure campaign to try and convince the Department of Justice to legitimize his election lies by calling the election “corrupt.”
Rep. Thompson: “Donald Trump didn’t just want the Justice Department to investigate — he wanted the Justice Department to help legitimize his lies.” #January6thCommitteeHearings
— Brennan Center (@BrennanCenter) June 23, 2022
Trump wanted the DOJ to say the election was corrupt and "Leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen."
He knew his MAGA allies would be willing to undo the will of voters, if the DOJ just gave them a cover story. pic.twitter.com/t4KyWZfqHZ
— CAP Action (@CAPAction) June 23, 2022
Per Rosen's testimony, Trump was obsessively working to stay in power.
— Emily C. Singer (@CahnEmily) June 23, 2022
2. Trump’s pressure campaign included demanding an investigation into election fraud he knew didn’t exist. In December 2020, Attorney General Bill Barr found NO evidence of election fraud.
Barr told the @January6thCmte that before he left DOJ he told Trump at least 3x there was no evidence of widespread election fraud. He refuted numerous claims of fraud Trump continued to make.
— Brandi Buchman (@Brandi_Buchman) June 23, 2022
Trump pressuring the DOJ on Jan 6th: "Just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest up to me and the Republicans." pic.twitter.com/HJmjgFl8Jb
— Pod Save America (@PodSaveAmerica) June 23, 2022
3. Trump’s DOJ pressure campaign was relentless, beginning as early as December 2020. The campaign included asking the Department of Justice to write a letter supporting Trump’s election lies.
Trump tried to push the Department of Justice to release a letter repeating his false fraud allegations.
Only a few people stood in the way of catastrophe. pic.twitter.com/odBtPQC8d8
— CAP Action (@CAPAction) June 23, 2022
Between Dec 23-Jan. 3, Trump called acting AG Rosen “virtually every day” as Trump said the DOJ had “not done enough to investigate election fraud.” Trump pressed him to name a special counsel, to meet with Giuliani, file a brief with SCOTUS, lean on states.
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) June 23, 2022
Kinzinger plays a clip of Trump's interview with Maria Bartiromo on November 29, 2020, in which he called the FBI and DOJ "missing in action" in investigating his election lies pic.twitter.com/TtqAWZYNTR
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 23, 2022
4. When top Department of Justice officials refused to go along with Trump’s illegal schemes, he smeared them in private and public, saying they weren’t doing enough. His smear campaign included the morning of the January 6 attack.
"people tell me I should just remove you, get rid of you"–Trump putting pressure on the DOJ in a way that allows him to make the threat, but avoid accountability by attributing it to "people" say. One of his favorite tricks.
— Jennifer Mercieca (@jenmercieca) June 23, 2022
Trump's pressure campaign was relentless. Daily. He wanted the DOJ to do more to investigate "election fraud." There was no election fraud, but he wanted the DOJ to "find" some for him.
— Jennifer Mercieca (@jenmercieca) June 23, 2022
Kinzinger plays a clip of the Trump mob protesting outside the DOJ on January 6 and chanting, "Do your job!" pic.twitter.com/VmM79MqrtY
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 23, 2022
5. As the DOJ announced to the public there was no election fraud in the 2020 election, Trump met with Congressional Republicans in the White House to strategize how to overturn the election.
“Just say that the election was corrupt, and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen.”
— Donald Trump to his DOJ, per notes from former Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue pic.twitter.com/hvZfH9Lq3B
— The Recount (@therecount) June 23, 2022
6. In a desperate attempt to cling onto power, Donald Trump asked top DOJ officials to illegally seize voting machines in a meeting on New Year’s Eve 2020. DOJ officials refused.
Trump to Acting AG Rosen: "Why don't you guys seize the (voting) machines?"
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) June 23, 2022
"Why don't you guys seize the (voting) machines?" pic.twitter.com/wFq0Foab2F
— The Leadership Conference (@civilrightsorg) June 23, 2022
7. Donald Trump explicitly threated to fire the two top DOJ officials if they did not go along with his radical plans to subvert the election.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL): "Did the president tell you that he would remove you and [Acting AG] Rosen because you weren't declaring there was election fraud?"
Former Acting Deputy AG Richard Donoghue: "He said, 'People tell me I should just get rid of both of you.'" pic.twitter.com/aFGL5tfXFu
— The Recount (@therecount) June 23, 2022
President Trump was “scouring the internet” to support his conspiracy theories.
Former Deputy AG, Richard Donoghue’s handwritten notes from meetings record the President telling him: “You guys may not be following the internet the way I do.” #January6thCommitteeHearings pic.twitter.com/vMYhO1albM
— Brennan Center (@BrennanCenter) June 23, 2022
8. The Committee showed testimony of Rudy Guiliani saying that he and Donald Trump needed to find a Department of Justice official to be the next Attorney General, “somebody that’s not frightened of what’s going to be done to their reputation.”
Giuliani during his deposition on why Jeffrey Clark was given election related responsibilities: "Somebody should be put in charge of the Justice Department who isn't frightened of what is going to be done to their reputation." pic.twitter.com/ftAtGd66zQ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 23, 2022
9. Representative Scott Perry sent text messages to Trump’s Chief of Staff, urging Trump to move Jeffrey Clark to a leadership position in the DOJ because Clark was willing to go along with Trump’s illegal plan. Representative Perry is serving in Congress today.
The Jan. 6 Committee has text messages showing Republican Scott Perry continually pressing Mark Meadows to help elevate pro-Trump official Jeffrey Clark to DOJ leadership (so that he could try to overturn the election).
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 23, 2022
What we're seeing is evidence of a conspiracy to overthrow the government by members of the government
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) June 23, 2022
10. Meanwhile, Jeffrey Clark was hatching a plan to send a letter to states like Georgia to overturn the election. Then-acting Attorney General Donoghue told Clark that Clark’s letter was not based in fact.
https://twitter.com/Sifill_LDF/status/1540064558123044865
11. When the U.S. Attorney General refused to go along with Trump’s illegal scheme, Trump tried to install Trump loyalist, Jeffrey Clark, who specialized in environmental issues.
When Trump's efforts failed to overturn the election, he sought to replace Jeffrey Rosen, the Acting Attorney General, with a lawyer who he believed would inappropriately put the full weight of the Justice Department behind the effort to overturn the election.
— January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) June 23, 2022
"Imagine if your mayor lost a re-election bid, but instead of conceding the race, they picked up the phone, called the district attorney, and said, 'I want you to say this election was stolen.'"
That's what Trump did. pic.twitter.com/bDo0TE7OWA
— CAP Action (@CAPAction) June 23, 2022
Former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen on Trump's election fraud claims: "The DOJ declined all of these requests because we did not think they were appropriate based on the facts and laws as we understood them"
— Brandi Buchman (@Brandi_Buchman) June 23, 2022
12. Finally on January 3, 2020, in a pivotal meeting, Trump asked top DOJ officials what would happen if he installed Jeffrey Clark as Attorney General. Department of Justice officials told Trump there would be mass resignations.
Trump: "What do I have to lose" by firing Rosen and getting DOJ to help throw the election.
— The Constitution Project (@ConPro) June 23, 2022
"I said, 'Mr. President, you're talking about putting a man in that seat who's never tried a criminal case… It's impossible, it's absurd…'"
— Former Acting Deputy AG Donoghue on Trump's plan to replace AG Rosen with Jeff Clark, a former DOJ official who peddled election lies pic.twitter.com/w410GrHjAX
— The Recount (@therecount) June 23, 2022
Former Acting Deputy AG Richard Donoghue: "I said, 'Mr. President, within 24, 48, 72 hours, you could have hundreds and hundreds of resignations of the leadership of your entire Justice Department because of your actions. What's that going to say about you?'" pic.twitter.com/MtJryTY4Eh
— CSPAN (@cspan) June 23, 2022
13. The Committee underlined how the position of Attorney General and the DOJ which it oversees has historically been politically independent from the president and political campaigns.
“The president cannot and must not use the department to serve his own personal interests and must not use its people to do his political bidding – especially when what he wants them to do is to subvert democracy…Justice must, both in fact and in law, be blind.” –@RepKinzinger
— The Leadership Conference (@civilrightsorg) June 23, 2022
.@RepKinzinger (R-IL): "The president cannot and must not use the department to service his own personal interest. And he must not use its people to do his political bidding, especially when what he wants them to do is to subvert democracy." pic.twitter.com/cp1MEBW4F4
— CSPAN (@cspan) June 23, 2022
14. Jeffrey Clark pleaded the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times and requested a presidential pardon.
The Jan. 6 Committee plays a montage of pro-Trump DOJ official Jeffrey Clark pleading the 5th over and over again during his meeting with the panel.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 23, 2022
15. Republican members of Congress all in office today, Gates, Perry, and Gohmert, asked for presidential pardons for their actions leading up to January 6th.
Trump WH aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified that Brooks and Gaetz pushed for pardons for every Republican lawmaker who participated in Jan. 6 planning meeting — and Reps. Perry, Biggs, Gohmert asked for pardons. Jordan asked whether White House would pardon members.
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) June 23, 2022
Former White House attorney Eric Herschmann on Matt Gaetz's request for a pardon: "The pardon that he was requesting was as broad as you can describe. From the beginning of time up until today, for any and all things." #January6thCommiteeHearings pic.twitter.com/CiuDO19GFv
— Brennan Center (@BrennanCenter) June 23, 2022
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To visit the nonpartisan January 6 Committee’s website, click here.