Page:CTRL0000034600 - Transcribed Interview of Richard Peter Donoghue, (Oct. 1, 2021).pdf/40

40 He said, "Yes, yes, it was a very good meeting. It was fine. He gave me a letter, a beautiful letter. It talks about some of the things we've been able to do together, so I really appreciate that. But he's leaving, and now I have to figure out who should be the Attorney General. I think you'd do a great job in that position. Is that something you'd want to do? Do you want to serve as the Attorney General?"

And I just responded, "Mr. President, I appreciate the consideration, but I really think it's in the best interest of the country, the Department, and you to follow the regular procedures. We have procedures for this situation, and I think those should be followed."

And he said, "That means Jeff Rosen would serve as the Acting Attorney General."

I said, "That's right. He's a great lawyer. He'd do a great job."

And he said, "You would serve as his deputy?" as a question. And I said that he and I had discussed that, if AG Barr left, that I would function in the Deputy Attorney General's role.

He asked if I was going to leave before the end of the administration. I said I was not, I was going to stay until the end. And he said, "Okay. That's fine. I'll call Jeff in a little while."

I hung up the phone. I went immediately back up to the fifth floor so that AG Barr was aware of what had just happened. I explained it to him very briefly, and he said, "Okay."

I went back downstairs. At that point, our weekly Monday staff meeting was already underway. We had a weekly 4:30 staff meeting with the DAG, myself, the chief of staff, and the various associate deputy attorneys general. I I went into the staff meeting, which was in the DAG's conference room. There were about 8 or 10 people in the conference room, a number more on the telephone.