Trump told DOJ to declare the election "corrupt"

[poker]

“Just say that the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me.”

That’s what then-President Trump said to his Acting Attorney General, Jeffrey Rosen, and Rosen’s deputy Richard Donoghue during a December 27th phone call. Donoghue’s handwritten notes detailing the call were turned over to the House Oversight and Reform Committee, which is investigating the Trump administration’s wide-ranging campaign to unlawfully overturn the election results.

When the DOJ officials on the call pushed back on Trump’s claims about voter fraud in key battleground states and reminded him they could not (and would not) overturn the election results, Trump grew angry and demanded they keep investigating his claims. Exactly one week after the call, Rosen, Donoghue, and other top DOJ officials managed to fend off an effort by Trump to replace Rosen with a loyalist who would carry out Trump’s plans.

We cannot ever forget how close we came to a complete constitutional breakdown. Trump pressured his own Attorney General, his own Department of Justice, and local elections officials to unlawfully overturn the results of a secure election — and he had members of Congress and countless administration officials working on it, too. In a sense, his plan worked: Republican state lawmakers are using his baseless claims as justification for their voter suppression bills, a majority of Republican voters believe Joe Biden is an illegitimate president, and Republican members of Congress continue to promote the big lie that sparked the Capitol insurrection.

Trump is no longer in office, but Trumpism is alive and well. Our democracy is still very much in danger. Our elected officials must act with the urgency this threat requires, which means doing everything in their power to protect voting rights, shore up our democracy, and ensure Trump and his enablers are held accountable. Our democracy hangs in the balance.

- Robert Reich

 

[Frankfooter]

The surprise here is that Barr actually had limits.

 

[poker]

New docs show Trump pressing DOJ to lie about election corruption

A sitting president urged the Justice Department to lie about imaginary election corruption, as part of a scheme to hold onto illegitimate power.

www.msnbc.com

 

[toguy5252]

It is just mind boggling to me that after revelation after revelation like this any thinking person could support the now former wannabe autocrat in chief regardless of what they may think of his policies. The now former biggest loser in history and his employees in the Congress and the lemmings that follow him are the greatest threat to the American democracy. Much more than his idol Putin.

 

[Leimonis]

It is just mind boggling to me that after revelation after revelation like this any thinking person could support the now former wannabe autocrat in chief regardless of what they may think of his policies. The now former biggest loser in history and his employees in the Congress and the lemmings that follow him are the greatest threat to the American democracy. Much more than his idol Putin.

half of the time on this forum I am spending trying to figure out what's wrong with them and each time I realize that I woefully lack psychiatric expertise.

Also, funny enough, Putin is not anti-vaccine nor anti-masks. He may be a murderer and he helped Trump but he arguably still is less of a piece of shit to his people than all these trumpian degenerates are.

 

[mjg1]

Adam Schiff said it best at clown Trump's 1st impeachment, "what are the chances that he will try to cheat again in the election, 100%."
Trump is by far the most corrupt president ever and probably ever will be, while all the Republicans did was to protect and enable him.

 

[poker]

Friends,

I’m afraid we’ve become so inured to Donald Trump’s proto fascism that we barely blink an eye when we learn that he tried to manipulate the 2020 election. Yet the most recent revelation should frighten every American to their core.

On Friday, the House Oversight Committee released notes of a December 27 telephone call from Trump to then-Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, in which Trump asks (orders?) Rosen to “Just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the R. Congressmen.” The notes were taken by Richard Donoghue, Rosen’s deputy, who was also on the call.

Rosen obviously rejected Trump's request. But what if Rosen had obeyed Trump and said to the American public that the election was corrupt -- and then “left the rest” to Trump and the Republican congressmen? What would Trump’s and the Republican’s next moves have been? And which Republican congressmen were in cahoots with Trump in this attempted coup d’etat?

Make no mistake: This was an attempted coup.

Trump knew it. Just weeks earlier, then Attorney General William Barr said the Department had found no evidence of widespread fraud that could have overturned the results.

And a few days after Trump’s call to Rosen -- on January 2 -- Trump told Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state, to “find” votes to change the election outcome. He berated Raffensperger for not doing more to overturn the election.

Emails released last month also show Trump and his allies in the last weeks of his presidency pressured the Justice Department to investigate totally unsubstantiated claims of widespread election fraud -- forwarding them conspiracy theories and even a draft legal brief they hoped would be filed with the Supreme Court.

Should we just forget all this happened? No.

For the first time in the history of the United States we did not have a peaceful transition of power. For the first time in American history, we had a president who refused – still refuses – to concede, and who continues to claim, with no basis in fact, that the election was “stolen” from him. For the first time in history, we had a president who actively plotted a coup.

It would bad enough if Trump were a mere crackpot acting out on his own pathetic stage – a would-be dictator who accidentally became president and then arranged an attempted coup, along with an assault on the U.S. Capitol, when he lost the election -- after which he was swept into the dustbin of history.

We might then merely regret this temporary lapse in American presidential history. At best, he would be seen as a fool, and the whole disgusting affair an embarrassment to the country.

But Trump was no accident and he’s not in any dustbin. He has turned one of America’s two major parties into his own cult. He has cast the major political division in America as between those who believe him about the 2020 election and those who do not. Most Republican senators and representatives dare not cross him. By all accounts, he is running for president again in 2024.

Donald Trump’s proto fascism has become the largest internal threat to American democracy since the onset of the Civil War.

In my humble opinion, this final revelation – Trump’s December 27 call to the acting attorney general in which he pleads “Just say the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me” – should trigger Section 3 of the 14th amendment, which bars anyone from holding office who “engaged in insurrection” against the US.

Your thoughts?

Robert Reich

 

[mjg1]

Friends,

I’m afraid we’ve become so inured to Donald Trump’s proto fascism that we barely blink an eye when we learn that he tried to manipulate the 2020 election. Yet the most recent revelation should frighten every American to their core.

On Friday, the House Oversight Committee released notes of a December 27 telephone call from Trump to then-Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, in which Trump asks (orders?) Rosen to “Just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the R. Congressmen.” The notes were taken by Richard Donoghue, Rosen’s deputy, who was also on the call.

Rosen obviously rejected Trump's request. But what if Rosen had obeyed Trump and said to the American public that the election was corrupt -- and then “left the rest” to Trump and the Republican congressmen? What would Trump’s and the Republican’s next moves have been? And which Republican congressmen were in cahoots with Trump in this attempted coup d’etat?

Make no mistake: This was an attempted coup.

Trump knew it. Just weeks earlier, then Attorney General William Barr said the Department had found no evidence of widespread fraud that could have overturned the results.

And a few days after Trump’s call to Rosen -- on January 2 -- Trump told Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state, to “find” votes to change the election outcome. He berated Raffensperger for not doing more to overturn the election.

Emails released last month also show Trump and his allies in the last weeks of his presidency pressured the Justice Department to investigate totally unsubstantiated claims of widespread election fraud -- forwarding them conspiracy theories and even a draft legal brief they hoped would be filed with the Supreme Court.

Should we just forget all this happened? No.

For the first time in the history of the United States we did not have a peaceful transition of power. For the first time in American history, we had a president who refused – still refuses – to concede, and who continues to claim, with no basis in fact, that the election was “stolen” from him. For the first time in history, we had a president who actively plotted a coup.

It would bad enough if Trump were a mere crackpot acting out on his own pathetic stage – a would-be dictator who accidentally became president and then arranged an attempted coup, along with an assault on the U.S. Capitol, when he lost the election -- after which he was swept into the dustbin of history.

We might then merely regret this temporary lapse in American presidential history. At best, he would be seen as a fool, and the whole disgusting affair an embarrassment to the country.

But Trump was no accident and he’s not in any dustbin. He has turned one of America’s two major parties into his own cult. He has cast the major political division in America as between those who believe him about the 2020 election and those who do not. Most Republican senators and representatives dare not cross him. By all accounts, he is running for president again in 2024.

Donald Trump’s proto fascism has become the largest internal threat to American democracy since the onset of the Civil War.

In my humble opinion, this final revelation – Trump’s December 27 call to the acting attorney general in which he pleads “Just say the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me” – should trigger Section 3 of the 14th amendment, which bars anyone from holding office who “engaged in insurrection” against the US.

Your thoughts?

Robert Reich

I agree 100%.
It's really scary to think of what comes after Trump for the MAGA cult, right-wing media and the spineless GOP. Their next lord & savior may not be so buffoonish and inept, but more cunning and willing to establish an authoritarian rule. A lot of hardcore Trump supporters want Trump to rule, no matter the laws.

Republicans Have Made It Clear They Will Let Trump Become a Dictator. Will We?

Freed from all accountability by the Senate, the realtor’s inner autocrat is on full display.

www.thenation.com

 

[squeezer]