Page:CTRL0000034600 - Transcribed Interview of Richard Peter Donoghue, (Oct. 1, 2021).pdf/125

125 resignations and other issues, and that's not going to be in anyone's interest."

And so the President said, "Well, suppose I do this"—I was sitting directly in front of the President. Jeff Rosen was to my right; Jeff Clark was to my left. The President said, "Suppose I do this, suppose I replace him," Jeff Rosen, "with him," Jeff Clark, "what do you do?" And I said, "Sir, I would resign immediately. There is no way I'm serving 1 minute under this guy," Jeff Clark.

And then the President turned to Steve Engel, and he said, "Steve, you wouldn't resign, would you?" And Steve said, "Absolutely I would, Mr. President. You'd leave me no choice."

And I said, "And we're not the only ones. You should understand that your entire Department leadership will resign. Every AAG will resign." I didn't tell him about the call or anything, but I made it clear that I knew what they were going to do.

And I said, "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? And I don't even know what that's going to do to the U.S. attorney community. You could have mass resignations amongst your U.S. attorneys. And then it will trickle down from there; you could have resignations across the Department. And what happens if, within 48 hours, we have hundreds of resignations from your Justice Department because of your actions? What does that say about your leadership?"

So we had that part of the conversation. Steve Engel, I remember, made the point that Jeff Clark would be leading what he called a graveyard; there would be no one left. How is he going to do anything if there's no leadership really left to carry out any of these ideas?