Page:CTRL0000034600 - Transcribed Interview of Richard Peter Donoghue, (Oct. 1, 2021).pdf/115

115 Acting Attorney General, in that meeting with him on the 2nd?

No. No.

But we concluded, and he said something to the effect of, "Well, the President has asked me to be Acting Attorney General. I told him I would give him a response on Monday. I'm going to think about what I'm going to do, and I'll let you," Jeff Rosen, "know."

He was also upset that I was there. Because I remember, early on, when we walked in the room, he turned to the Acting Attorney General and said, I thought it was just going to be the two of us. And the Acting AG said, "No. Rich needs to be here for this. He knows more about what's going on. And we're the leadership team, and we want to hear what you have to say."

Got it.

All right. And I appreciate you don't have your notes in front of you, but anything else about the conversation, Mr. Donoghue, that you recall, the conversation with Clark on the 2nd?

It just got very heated, and it was left at that, that he would make a decision over the next day or so and let Jeff Rosen know.

You described the earlier meeting with Mr. Clark as you were more confrontational than Mr. Rosen, that Mr. Rosen was trying to play, I think it was your term, "peacemaker" or was trying to find some common ground.

Did he play a similar role in this meeting, or had Mr. Rosen's approach to Clark, had it changed and was it a different tone on the 2nd?

It had certainly stiffened, but I think the overall tenor was that Jeff Rosen was deeply disappointed. He had known this guy for decades, they worked together, he respected him as an attorney, and he couldn't believe that, even after all this, even when