Trump pressed Justice Department to go directly to Supreme Court to overturn election results

Donald Trump dropped efforts to replace the acting Attorney-General after top officials agreed to resign en masse in protest if he succeeded.

Jeffrey Rosen, front, refused a request from Donald Trump to appoint a special counsel to investigate unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud. Picture: AFP

In his last weeks in office, former president Donald Trump considered replacing the acting Attorney-General with another official who would be more amenable to pursuing unproven claims of election fraud, people familiar with the matter said.

The plan was stymied when the Justice Department’s top leaders agreed on a conference call in early January that they would resign en masse if Mr Trump fired then-acting Attorney-General Jeffrey Rosen, the people said, averting what could have become a new crisis in the administration’s waning days.

In Mr Rosen’s place, Mr Trump had considered installing another senior Justice Department official, Jeffrey Clark, who had expressed a willingness to use the department’s power to help the former president continue his unsuccessful legal battles contesting the election results, these people said.

Mr Clark denied involvement in a plan to oust Mr Rosen, which was first reported by The New York Times.

“My practice is to rely on sworn testimony to assess disputed factual claims,” Mr Clark said in a statement sent to The Wall Street Journal after the publication of the story in the NYT. “There were no ‘manoeuvre(s).’ There was a candid discussion of options and pros and cons with the president. It is unfortunate that those who were part of a privileged legal conversation would comment in public about such internal deliberations, while also distorting any discussions … Observing legal privileges, which I will adhere to even if others will not, prevents me from divulging specifics regarding the conversation”

Mr Trump has defended his efforts to change the election results by alleging, without evidence, that there was widespread fraud as an attempt to “honour” the votes of those who supported him and ensure Americans “can have faith” in the electoral process.

Mr Trump’s plan to orchestrate a last-minute change in the department was part of the broader effort by the former president and his allies to involve the Justice Department in their attempts to cast doubt on President Joe Biden’s November victory.

White House officials had pressured Atlanta’s top federal prosecutor to resign before Georgia’s January 5 Senate run-off elections because Mr Trump claimed he wasn’t doing enough to investigate unproven claims of election fraud there, The Wall Street Journal previously reported, a matter now under investigation by the department’s inspector-general, a person with knowledge of the probe said.

Atlanta US Attorney Byung J. Pak stepped down on January 4, the day after news organisations published a recording of a call between Mr Trump and Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a fellow Republican, in which Mr Trump pushed the state officials to “find” enough votes to overturn the November presidential election results.

The day after the recording was leaked, Mr Trump acknowledged the call with Mr Raffensperger, tweeting: “He was unwilling, or unable, to answer questions such as the ‘ballots under table’ scam, ballot destruction, out of state ‘voters’, dead voters, and more. He has no clue!” M. Raffensperger tweeted back: “Respectfully, President Trump: What you’re saying is not true. The truth will come out.”

After two recounts and one audit of ballot signatures, Mr Raffensperger had concluded there was no evidence of widespread fraud that could change the results and Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, also a Republican, certified Mr Biden’s narrow win in the state on November 20.

In Washington, Mr. Rosen became acting attorney general after William Barr resigned on December 23. Mr Trump and Mr Barr’s relationship had become strained after Mr. Barr’s public assertion that the Justice Department hadn’t found evidence of widespread voter fraud that could reverse Mr Biden’s victory, including claims of fraud, ballot destruction and voting-machine manipulation.

Even before Mr Barr’s departure, Mr Trump had called Mr Rosen to the White House to pressure him to appoint a special counsel to investigate unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud and voting-machine manufacturer Dominion, the people said, a move Mr Barr had concluded was unnecessary. The former president wanted the Justice Department to file briefs supporting his allies’ legal challenges to his election loss.

Mr Trump and his attorneys had lost dozens of cases in courts at all levels, including the US Supreme Court. In the five weeks after election day, the Trump campaign and other Republicans lost at least 40 times in six pivotal states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. In several other cases, the campaign or allies withdrew claims after filing them.

Mr Rosen refused, reiterating Mr Barr’s conclusion that there was no widespread fraud. Mr Rosen couldn’t immediately be reached.

While still pressuring Mr Rosen, Mr Trump turned his attention to Mr Clark, who was head of both the Justice Department’s environment and natural resources division as well as its civil division, responsible for representing the executive branch in lawsuits. Mr Clark had expressed to colleagues what they interpreted to be a willingness to support Mr Trump’s unfounded fraud claims, the people said.

The Wall Street Journal