JUSTICE JOUSTING

Trump Plotted With DOJ Lawyer to Oust AG: NYT

The president wanted the department to push his baseless claims of voter fraud in Georgia, but several DOJ lawyers vowed to resign en masse.

President Donald Trump conspired with a Justice Department lawyer to oust the acting attorney general so as to further pressure the agency into pursuing his false claims of widespread voter fraud in Georgia. Earlier this month, top DOJ lawyers learned of the attempted ouster of Jeffrey Rosen, according to The New York Times, and a group of them agreed to resign if Trump did indeed fire Rosen and replace him with Jeffrey Clark, a DOJ attorney who had plotted with Trump to bring the DOJ around to Trump’s point of view on the Georgia ballots. The president reportedly pitted Clark directly against Rosen in a pitch contest akin to The Apprentice in a meeting at the White House. Trump had previously prompted Rosen to investigate Trump’s own pronouncements of a stolen Georgia election to no avail. Trump ultimately did not fire Rosen, guessing that a mass resignation of Justice Department leadership would eclipse his own agenda. Clark said in a statement to the Times, “Senior Justice Department lawyers, not uncommonly, provide legal advice to the White House as part of our duties. All my official communications were consistent with law.”