Leaked emails reveal Trump-appointed DOJ official pushed department to intervene in Georgia election

Newly revealed emails show that a Department of Justice official appointed by former President Donald Trump tried to get the department to intervene in Georgia's certification of the 2020 presidential election.

ABC News reports that Jeffrey Clark, the former acting head of DOJ's civil division, circulated a draft letter in which the department would formally call on Georgia's Republican governor to convene a special session to investigate purported "irregularities" in the 2020 vote.

"The Department of Justice is investigating various irregularities in the 2020 election for President of the United States," Clark's draft letter said. "The Department will update you as we are able on investigatory progress, but at this time we have identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple States, including the State of Georgia."

Clark's request to send the letter was ultimately denied by then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and acting deputy attorney general Richard Donoghue.

Nonetheless, the proposed letter is bound to draw scrutiny from congressional investigators, especially because it came after former Attorney General Bill Barr admitted that the DOJ had found no evidence of widespread voter fraud.

"There is no chance that I would sign this letter or anything remotely like this," Donoghue wrote back in Clark in response to his proposed letter. "While it maybe true that the Department 'is investigating various irregularities in the 2020 election for President' (something we typically would not state publicly) the investigations that I am aware of relate to suspicions of misconduct that are of such a small scale that they simply would not impact the outcome of the Presidential Election."