4.13 January 2, 2021: Rosen and Donoghue Confront Clark Again

4.13 January 2, 2021: Rosen and Donoghue Confront Clark Again

¶On Saturday, January 2nd, Rosen and Donoghue attempted, once again, to persuade Clark to stand down. The two reiterated that Clark should stop meeting with the President.²⁶⁵²⁶⁵ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of Richard Peter Donoghue, (Oct. 1, 2021), p. 114. Donoghue reprimanded Clark, emphasizing that he was the boss and that Clark’s ongoing contacts with the President were a violation of DOJ’s White House contact policy.²⁶⁶²⁶⁶ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of Richard Peter Donoghue, (Oct. 1, 2021), pp. 113–14. Clark acknowledged that he had been briefed by the ODNI, as he had requested, and “that there was nothing in that briefing that would have supported his earlier suspicion about foreign involvement.”²⁶⁷²⁶⁷ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of Richard Peter Donoghue, (Oct. 1, 2021), p. 113. Nevertheless, Clark still wanted to send his letter to Georgia and other contested States alleging voter fraud.²⁶⁸²⁶⁸ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of Richard Peter Donoghue, (Oct. 1, 2021), p. 113.

¶During the conversation, Clark confirmed President Trump had offered him the position of Acting Attorney General.²⁶⁹²⁶⁹ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of Richard Peter Donoghue, (Oct. 1, 2021), pp. 111–15. Clark told Rosen that he would decline the offer—if Rosen and Donoghue signed his dishonest letter to officials in Georgia.²⁷⁰²⁷⁰ Rosen confirmed this during testimony before the Select Committee. “ADAM KINZINGER: So in that meeting did Mr. Clark say he would turn down the President’s offer if you reversed your position and signed the letter? JEFFREY A. ROSEN: Yes.” Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Hearing on the January 6th Investigation, 117th Cong., 2d sess., (June 23, 2022), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/committee/house-january6th.Show full note The two refused once again, making it clear “that there was no way we were going to sign that letter.”²⁷¹²⁷¹ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Hearing on the January 6th Investigation, 117th Cong., 2d sess., (June 23, 2022), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/committee/house-january6th. Rosen reiterated his decision in an email on the night of January 2nd, writing: “I confirmed again today that I am not prepared to sign such a letter.”²⁷²²⁷² Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Department of Justice Production), HCOR-Pre-CertificationEvents-06032021-000200 (January 2, 2021, email from Jeffrey Rosen to Richard Donoghue re: Two Urgent Action Items).

¶That same day, President Trump attempted to coerce Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger into manufacturing enough votes to steal the election in that State. That call is discussed in Chapter 2 of this report. But one part of it deserves mention here. During that same call, President Trump brought up BJay Pak, whom President Trump had appointed as the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. President Trump referred to Pak as “your never-Trumper U.S. attorney there.”²⁷³²⁷³ Brad Raffensperger, Integrity Counts (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2021), p. 191 (reproducing the call transcript); Amy Gardner and Paulina Firozi, “Here’s the Full Transcript and Audio of the Call between Trump and Raffensperger,” Washington Post, (Jan. 5, 2021), available at https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-raffensperger-call-transcript-georgia-vote/2021/01/03/2768e0cc-4ddd-11eb-83e3-322644d82356_story.html.Show full note The implication was that Pak was not doing enough to validate President Trump’s fictitious claims of voter fraud. President Trump’s mention of Pak proved to be ominous.