![]() ‘I will not break my oath’: Officials testify about defying Trump’s orders.What are the Capitol riot hearings all about?.There's now a clear path for officials from former President Donald Trump's administration to testify before Congress about the Jan. The Justice Department has notified former government officials that it has consulted with the White House counsel's office and that it "would not be appropriate to assert executive privilege with respect to communications with former President Trump and his advisers and staff on matters related to the committee's proposed interviews," according to a person who has read the letter from department official Bradley Weinsheimer. The decision could clear a path for former Justice Department officials to testify about an attempt to oust then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and replace him with someone sympathetic to the former president's baseless arguments about election fraud in the days before the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.īut the decision also could portend court challenges by Trump and others with whom he talked on Jan. Carolyn Maloney, chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, celebrated the decision. ![]() "I am pleased that the Justice Department. "I expect prompt cooperation from these witnesses, and I am committed to getting to the bottom of the previous Administration's attempts to subvert the Justice Department and reverse a free and fair election." has authorized key officials to provide 'unrestricted testimony' to the Committee without asserting claims of privilege," she said in a statement. #Former acting attorney testifies trumps subvert free The House select committee investigating the deadly attack on the Capitol held its first hearing Tuesday. Other congressional panels have their own investigations underway. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chairman of the select committee, told reporters the panel will reconvene for another hearing in August.Īsked whether subpoenas would be issued for the former president or others who served at the White House on Jan. 6, Thompson said only: "We will follow the facts." Former Acting Attorney General Testifies About Trumps Efforts to Subvert. NPR's Barbara Sprunt contributed to this report.Having already painted a picture of Donald Trump allegedly directing or at the very least being keenly aware of a wide-ranging plan to subvert the 2020 US presidential election, the Jan. 6 committee on Thursday moved to depict how the former president and his aides sought to use the formidable authority of the Department of Justice to keep him in power. Key to this unprecedented endeavor, the committee argued, was a letter written by a midlevel environmental lawyer-to be signed by top Justice Department officials-falsely claiming election fraud in swing states. The unsent letter, electronic message evidence and testimony by senior members of the Trump Justice Department combined today to describe what panel members said was a desperate effort to erase the election of Joe Biden and keep Trump at the head of the American government. ![]() The strategy, according to Select Committee Chair and Mississippi Democrat Bennie Thompson, was to help Trump “steal an election he already lost.” Thursday’s hearing, the fifth in an ongoing series, will feature in-person testimony from former Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, former Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue and. Representative Adam Kinzinger, a Republican from Illinois, led Thursday’s hearing as former Justice Department leaders described how Jeffrey Clark-a DOJ lawyer who text messages showed was pushed forward by Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Pennsylvania Representative Scott Perry-asked to be put in charge of the Justice Department. The request allegedly came as Trump was scrambling for ways to slow the transfer of power, with messages between Meadows and Perry discussing strategies to undercut state vote tallies. When previously interviewed by the committee, Clark repeatedly invoked his right against self-incrimination.
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