Page:CTRL0000034600 - Transcribed Interview of Richard Peter Donoghue, (Oct. 1, 2021).pdf/138

138 Okay. I'm going to—just a couple more things from me before I turn it over to, Mr. Donoghue.


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You were a career military and Department of Justice professional, years and years of honorable public service. I'm just wondering how someone like you, how you felt about all of this, this whole series of events where the President of the United States is persistently pushing you and the Department to take these actions. How did that affect someone like you with that long record of honorable and career service?

The whole thing was a little bit surreal, of course. And, frankly, I was just glad to be in the position that I was in at the time it happened. I was glad to be there with Jeff Rosen, with Steve Engel, and the others. And I thought we were a good team that were acting—the team was acting in the best interests of the country. I was just glad to be part of it. That's all.

What, in your view, would've happened if you hadn't stood up or if Mr. Clark had been installed as Acting Attorney General?

Mr. Andres. I mean, I'm not sure we really want to get into too many hypotheticals, but, you know, if you want to answer that, Rich.

Mr. Donoghue. I assume that if Mr. Clark had been put in the position he would've sent the letter out. But, frankly, I think it probably all would've run aground at that point. I think it would've triggered mass resignations, and I think none of the investigations would've actually gotten done in the timeframe.

I think it would've been so wildly disruptive that, while the letter itself would be damaging both to the Department and the country, I honestly don't think any of it would've changed the outcome. It's just so hard to imagine that so many things would've happened in such a short period of time that the outcome would have changed