2020 Election
'Go back to your office': New report details furious DOJ blow-up in front of Trump days before Jan. 6
June 14, 2022 8:56AM ET
Donald Trump (Photo via AFP)
According to a report from the Washington Post's Michael Kranish, in the days before the Jan. 6 insurrection, high-ranking members of the Department of Justice were at each other throats over attempts to throw out the 2020 presidential election results.
As Kranish notes, the battle between two factions in the highly politicized DOJ have been reported before, but new details have emerged about an explosive argument between Jeffrey Clark -- who wanted to back Trump's efforts to overturn the election results -- and Richard Donoghue, deputy to then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen.
According to the report, Donoghue and Rosen inserted themselves into Clark's meeting with Trump where he was set to outline his plan to disrupt the certification of the election results if the former president made him the new AG.
Kranish reports Donoghue told Trump that Clark -- an environmental attorney with no criminal prosecution experience -- was “not competent” and his appointment as new acting AG would set off an exodus within the department.
That set off a furious exchange.
“What happens if, within 48 hours, we have hundreds of resignations from your Justice Department because of your actions?” Donoghue reportedly asked Trump. “What does that say about your leadership?”
“And we’re not the only ones,” Donoghue claims he told Trump after he threatened to resign. “You should understand that your entire department leadership will resign. Every [assistant attorney general] will resign... Mr. President, these aren’t bureaucratic leftovers from another administration. You picked them. This is your leadership team. You sent every one of them to the Senate; you got them confirmed. What is that going to say about you, when we all walk out at the same time?”
Focusing on Clark, he added, "He’s never been a criminal attorney. He’s never conducted a criminal investigation in his life. He’s never been in front of a grand jury, much less a trial jury," which led Clark to object by saying, "Well, I’ve done a lot of very complicated appeals and civil litigation, environmental litigation, and things like that."
“That’s right,” Donoghue told investigators he responded. “You’re an environmental lawyer. How about you go back to your office, and we’ll call you when there’s an oil spill.”
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According to the report, Trump turned to Clark and told him, "I appreciate your willingness to do it. I appreciate you being willing to suffer the abuse. But the reality is, you’re not going to get anything done. These guys are going to quit. Everyone else is going to resign. It’s going to be a disaster. The bureaucracy will eat you alive. And no matter how much you want to get things done in the next few weeks, you won’t be able to get it done, and it’s not going to be worth the breakage.”
It should be noted that Clark invoked his 5th Amendment rights when questioned by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot.
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