Trump Pressured Acting AG Jeffrey Rosen to Challenge 2020 Election Results According to Stunning Report
Former President Donald Trump and his allies, including his Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, allegedly pressured then-Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen to challenge the results of the 2020 general election, according to emails obtained and reported on by CNN.
In the final days of the Trump administration, the 45th president became increasingly angry with his losing his reelection bid to President Joe Biden, who he had often derided as the worst candidate in presidential campaign history — or words to that effect. Trump was so disappointed that he amplified the baseless conspiracy that there was widespread voter fraud that led to his loss, though there is no evidence that supports such absurd claims.
As such, Trump and his surrogates reportedly pressured Rosen to give credence to these claims and join the public effort to challenge the election result. Rosen served as Acting Attorney General for roughly the last month of the Trump administration, after William Barr stepped down in December of 2020.
CNN obtained emails from the Department of Justice which show Trump allies pressuring Rosen and even encouraging the acting AG to meet with Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, who was promoting election fraud conspiracies in made for television events across the country, though never in a court of law where lying under oath might have been considered a criminal offense or at least risked Giuliani’s disbarment.
Writing for CNN, Whitney Wild and Jeremy Herb report:
The emails from Justice Department and White House officials show how Trump allies pressured Rosen to consider false and outlandish allegations that the election had been stolen and sought to get the Justice Department to formally back up the false claims. The documents also offer a window into how Rosen dealt with the political pressure from the White House soon after he was tapped to lead the department in the final weeks of the Trump administration.
Amid the pressure, Rosen said he refused to speak to Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani about his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
When Mark Meadows, then-White House chief of staff, sought to have Rosen arrange an FBI meeting with a Giuliani ally pushing a conspiracy theory that Italy was using military technology and satellites to somehow change votes to Joe Biden, Rosen said he would not help Giuliani.
“I flatly refused, said I would not be giving any special treatment to Giuliani or any of his ‘witnesses,’ and re-affirmed yet again that I will not talk to Giuliani about any of this,” Rosen wrote to then-acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue.
The CNN report goes on to note that Meadows reportedly claimed there were “allegations of signature match anomalies” in Fulton County, Georgia in an email dated January 1st, and asked Rosen to have a DOJ official “engage on this issue immediately to determine if there is any truth to this allegation.” From the CNN report:
Rosen forwarded the email to Donoghue later that day, saying: “Can you believe this? I am not going to respond to the message below.”
“At least it’s better than the last one, but that doesn’t say much,” Donoghue reponded.
When Meadows sent Rosen a YouTube video link about Italian satellites, Rosen forwarded it to Donoghue, who responded, “Pure insanity.”
In another exchange, Donoghue told Steve Engel of the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel that he wanted to meet with him “about some antics that could potentially end up on your radar,” signaling there was at least some concern that the Office of Legal Counsel would have to weigh in on potential issues.
In many ways, none of this is terribly surprising, though it is no less unnerving that, if true, the report suggests the former President and his chief of staff were asking the head of the Justice Department to validate conspiracy claims that had no basis in truth. Read the entire report here.
This post has been updated to include Ms. Wild’s report on CNN’s New Day.
