Maggie Haberman: Trump Pressuring DOJ ‘Most Blatant’ Example Yet of Using ‘Levers of Government’ to Retain Power

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman called out Donald Trump’s most glaring attempt to manipulate the government, and maintain power, after losing the 2020 election. Her assessment was based on notes of former acting deputy attorney general Richard Donoghue, which revealed Trump asking him to effectively say the election results were fraudulent.

Haberman joined CNN’s New Day on Monday to talk about Donoghue’s notes saying Trump called former-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen at the end of 2020, instructing him to “just say that the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the R Congressmen.” Asked for her take, Haberman agreed with John Berman that Trump’s message was “not subtle.”

“This is the most blatant thing that we have heard so far that former President Trump tried to do to influence parts of his government to undermine the election,” Haberman said. “Now, we knew he was talking about fraud. We knew that he was making allegations that the election was rigged…But this is the starkest example that we have of what he was trying to do to use the levers of his government to keep himself in power.”

The conversation continued with Haberman outlining the “unprecedented” implications there would’ve been if the DOJ hadn’t resisted Trump’s commands. Haberman also noted that former Attorney General Bill Barr already dismissed Trump’s election fraud claims by that point, so Trump was jumping from person to person to find someone who would advance his baseless claims.

Watch above, via CNN.