Alleged election ‘plot’ at Justice Dept. subject of inquiry
Top Democrats have vowed to investigate “troubling questions” about the involvement of officials at the Department of Justice in efforts to reverse former President Trump’s election loss.
Responding to a report by the New York Times, Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois tweeted late Saturday that the Senate Judiciary Committee, which he is chairing in the new Congress, would take up the matter.
Durbin and other Democrats on the Judiciary panel, in a letter dated Saturday, asked acting U.S. Atty. Gen. Monty Wilkinson to ensure relevant materials were preserved and made available to the committee.
The fresh reports of the efforts Trump considered to overturn the election in the final weeks of his term came with the former president gone from office but facing a second impeachment trial starting the week of Feb. 8.
The New York Times reported late Friday that Trump considered firing acting Atty. Gen. Jeffrey Rosen and replacing him with another Justice Department lawyer, Jeffrey Clark, who was prepared to back Trump’s efforts to overturn the election.
The Democrats in their letter called the details in the report “astonishing” and drew a direct line between the “alleged plot” and the events of Jan. 6, when Trump incited a mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol while Congress was preparing to officially affirm President Biden’s win. Trump also pressured the law enforcement agency to go directly to the Supreme Court in a bid to invalidate Biden’s victory, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.
Both efforts reportedly failed because of opposition from some of Trump’s appointees within the agency and from White House Counsel Pat Cipollone.
On Saturday, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) called for the Justice Department’s inspector general to investigate “attempted sedition” by attorney Clark.