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Anger and insults: Documents show DOJ pushed back bluntly at Trump effort
Court records filed by the House Jan. 6 committee reveal new details about the “blunt and direct” language used in a January 2021 meeting at the White House as then-President Trump weighed firing Justice Department leaders who would not carry out an investigation into his baseless claims of voter fraud....
Frustration came to a peak on Jan. 3, 2021, when the men were summoned to the White House for a meeting with Trump, in which Clark openly pushed himself for the attorney general role.
“Jeff Clark certainly was advocating for change in leadership that would put him at the top of the Department, and everyone else in the room was advocating against that and talking about what a disaster this would be," Donoghue said, noting that White House counsel were unified with DOJ lawyers in rejecting the idea.
“He repeatedly said to the president that, if he was put in the seat, he would conduct real investigations that would, in his view, uncover widespread fraud; he would send out the letter that he had drafted; and that this was a last opportunity to sort of set things straight with this defective election, and that he could do it, and he had the intelligence and the will and the desire to pursue these matters in the way that the President thought most appropriate.”...
“I made the point that Jeff Clark is not even competent to serve as the Attorney General. He's never been a criminal attorney. He's never conducted a criminal investigation in his life. He's never been in front of a grand jury, much less a trial jury. And he kind of retorted by saying, ‘Well, I've done a lot of very complicated appeals and civil litigation, environmental litigation, and things like that.’ And I said, ‘That's right. You're an environmental lawyer. How about you go back to your office, and we'll call you when there's an oil spill,’" Donoghue said.
The rest at https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/596769-anger-and-insults-documents-show-doj-pushed-back-bluntly-at-trumpFrustration came to a peak on Jan. 3, 2021, when the men were summoned to the White House for a meeting with Trump, in which Clark openly pushed himself for the attorney general role.
“Jeff Clark certainly was advocating for change in leadership that would put him at the top of the Department, and everyone else in the room was advocating against that and talking about what a disaster this would be," Donoghue said, noting that White House counsel were unified with DOJ lawyers in rejecting the idea.
“He repeatedly said to the president that, if he was put in the seat, he would conduct real investigations that would, in his view, uncover widespread fraud; he would send out the letter that he had drafted; and that this was a last opportunity to sort of set things straight with this defective election, and that he could do it, and he had the intelligence and the will and the desire to pursue these matters in the way that the President thought most appropriate.”...
“I made the point that Jeff Clark is not even competent to serve as the Attorney General. He's never been a criminal attorney. He's never conducted a criminal investigation in his life. He's never been in front of a grand jury, much less a trial jury. And he kind of retorted by saying, ‘Well, I've done a lot of very complicated appeals and civil litigation, environmental litigation, and things like that.’ And I said, ‘That's right. You're an environmental lawyer. How about you go back to your office, and we'll call you when there's an oil spill,’" Donoghue said.