Details of Trump’s bid to undo vote

WASHINGTON — ThenPresident Trump’s effort to overturn his 2020 election defeat brought the Justice Department to the brink of chaos and prompted top officials there and at the White House to threaten to resign, a Senate Judiciary Committee report found.

The report released Thursday by the Democratrun committee offers new insight into how the Republican tried to undo the vote and exert his will on the department, asking leaders to declare the election “corrupt” and disparaging its top official for not doing anything to overturn the results. Trump’s actions led to a near-revolt at department headquarters that receded only after senior officials warned of a mass resignation, with one White House lawyer describing efforts to undo the election as a “murder-suicide pact.”

“In attempting to enlist DOJ for personal, political purposes in an effort to maintain his hold on the White House, Trump grossly abused the power of the presidency” and arguably violated a federal law that prevents anyone from commanding federal employees to engage in political activity, the report says.

Though the broad outlines of what took place after the Nov. 3 election have long been known, the Senate investigation based on a review of documents and interviews with former officials lays bare the extent of Trump’s all-out campaign to remain in the White House.

The pressure campaign by Trump and his allies included a draft brief that the White House wanted the Justice Department to file with the Supreme Court to overturn the election results. The department refused to file the document, which the Senate report describes as raising a “litany of false and debunked claims.”

The conflict culminated in a contentious, hours-long meeting at the White House on Jan. 3 in which Trump openly considered replacing Jeffrey A. Rosen as acting attorney general with Jeffrey Clark, an assistant attorney general. The Democrats’ report says Trump told Rosen: “One thing we know is you, Rosen, aren’t going to do anything to overturn the election.”

Republicans issued their own report that downplays the concerns raised by Democrats and paints Trump as a hero who ignored suggestions from Clark.