Page:Final Report of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.pdf/413

 "We have an obligation to tell people that this was an illegal, corrupt election," President Trump told the DOJ team at another point in the call. President Trump insisted this was DOJ's "obligation," even though Rosen and Donoghue kept telling him there was no evidence of fraud sufficient to overturn the outcome of the election. "We are doing our job," Donoghue informed the President. "Much of the info you're getting is false."

The call on December 27th was contentious for additional reasons. President Trump did not want to accept that the Department of Justice was not an arm of his election campaign. He wanted to know why the Department did not assist in his campaign's civil suits against States. There was a simple answer: There was no evidence to support the campaign's claims of fraud.

Donoghue and Rosen also "tried to explain to the President on this occasion and on several other occasions that the Justice Department has a very important, very specific, but very limited role in these elections." The States "run their elections" and DOJ is not "quality control for the States." DOJ has "a mission that relates to criminal conduct in relation to federal elections" and also has "related civil rights responsibilities." But DOJ cannot simply intervene to alter the outcome of an election or support a civil suit.

When President Trump made these demands on December 27th, it was already crystal clear that the Department of Justice had found no evidence of systemic fraud. The Department simply had no reason to assert that the 2020 Presidential contest was "an illegal corrupt election."

"People tell me Jeff Clark is great" and that "I should put him in," President Trump said on the call. "People want me to replace the DOJ leadership." Donoghue responded "[S]ir, that's fine, you should have the leadership you want, but understand, changing the leadership in the Department won't change anything."

The President did not really care what facts had been uncovered by the Department of Justice. President Trump just wanted the Department to say the election was corrupt, so he and the Republican Congressmen could exploit the statement in the days to come, including on January 6th. And when Rosen and Donoghue resisted the President's entreaties, he openly mused about replacing Rosen with someone who would do the President's bidding.

Toward the end of the December 27th call, President Trump asked Donoghue for his cell number. Later that day, Representative Perry called