After AG Billy Barr stepped down In late December 2020, The Former Guy (TFG) called acting AG Jeffrey Rosen almost everyday “to alert him to claims of voter fraud or alleged improper vote counts in the 2020 election.” The calls finally stopped on January 6, 2021 when TFG’s Cult of MAGAts stormed the Capitol Building in an attempt to stop the certification of the election and prevent the peaceful transfer of power.
Rosen did not tell many people about the phone calls but Richard Donoghue, who was present for some of the conversations, took notes of them, which could now be turned over to Congress for further investigation, “if Trump does not file papers in court seeking to block such a handover.”
The Justice Department has already informed Rosen, Donoghue, and others that “the agency would not seek to invoke executive privilege if they are asked about their contacts with the president during that period.” In other words, if questioned by Congress, they could discuss the conversations they had with the Former Guy freely and and the DoJ will not invoke executive privilege.
Neither Rosen, Donoghue, nor the Former Guy’s spokesperson responded to the Washington Post’s messages seeking comments.
A brief summary of the Former Guy’s phone calls:
- The calls came in late 2020 and early 2021.
- TFG and his Cult of MAGAts pressured DoJ and other agencies to “launch new investigations, support unverified allegations of fraud or manipulation of vote counts, or otherwise throw up roadblocks to Democrat Joe Biden becoming president.”
- TFG was obsessed with the outcome of the election and would not accept the outcome or the fact he lost; he still hasn’t.
- TFG’s obsession almost lead to replacing Rosen with the more “Trump friendly” toad Jeffrey Clark. But after a meeting with those involved, TFG abandoned his plan.
On Monday, Associate Deputy Attorney General Bradley Weinsheimer told Rosen in a letter: “You are authorized to provide information you learned while at the Department,” including “your knowledge of attempts to involve the Department in efforts to challenge or overturn the 2020 election results. This includes your knowledge of any such attempts by Department officials or by White House officials to engage in such efforts.”
The letter noted that the Senate Judiciary Committee is examining the time period after Dec. 14, 2020, when Barr announced he would leave the attorney general position.
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