Trump Pressured DOJ To Back Election Fraud Claims, New Emails Show

New emails released Tuesday by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee reveal a pressure campaign by then-President Donald Trump and his allies to push Justice Department officials to overturn the 2020 election results.

Documents obtained by the committee show that Trump, his then-chief of staff Mark Meadows and Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani repeatedly pressured senior DOJ officials in December and January to advance baseless election fraud conspiracy theories in an effort to keep Trump in power.

Minutes before Trump announced that William Barr was stepping down as attorney general, the president’s assistant sent an email to Barr’s replacement, then-Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, on behalf of Trump that alleged a “Cover-up is Happening regarding the voting machines in Michigan.”

“Michigan cannot certify for Biden,” the December 2020 email to Rosen stated.

The emails coincided with Trump’s public efforts to cast doubt on President Joe Biden’s victory by falsely claiming the election was stolen through rigged voting machines and fraudulent ballots. Trump has continued lying about the election months into Biden’s presidency.

In a statement Tuesday, Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) said the documents showed Trump “tried to corrupt our nation’s chief law enforcement agency in a brazen attempt to overturn an election that he lost.”

“Those who aided or witnessed President Trump’s unlawful actions must answer the Committee’s questions about this attempted subversion of democracy,” Maloney said. “My Committee is committed to ensuring that the events leading to the violent January 6 insurrection are fully investigated.”

As part of its investigation into Trump’s final days in office and the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, the committee has asked to conduct transcribed interviews with Meadows, Clark and several other DOJ officials.

Rosen is in the process of negotiating terms of a single interview with congressional investigators and has asked DOJ officials to instruct him on what information he can provide related to his meetings with Trump, which could be privileged, reported The New York Times.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.