Donald Trump asked former Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen for advice on a possible strategy to use the Supreme Court to overturn Joe Biden's election win.
Details of the December 2020 phone call reportedly emerged during a two-hour interview Rosen had with the US Department Office of the Inspector General on Friday. He also gave closed-door testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Saturday on the call.
Rosen is said to have been aware of the document Trump was using to formulate his strategy before the call, and was sufficiently well-prepared to shoot down then then--president's request, it was claimed.
Trumped reportedly put pressure on the DOJ to overturn the 2020 election results in his last few weeks in office.
The former president Donald Trump leaving Trump Tower today after details from former AG Jeffrey Rosen's DOJ interview dropped
Jeffrey Rosen (above) revealed an unreported phone call between him and Trump. The former president had asked Rosen about a conspiratorial draft complaint aimed at overturning the 2020 election results
The former president called Rosen in late December to discuss the 54-page document, weeks after losing the election to Joe Biden. He asked Rosen why the DOJ wasn't doing more about the election, according to Politico.
The complaint was modeled on a Texas lawsuit compiled by pro-Trump attorney Kurt Olsen.
It urged the Supreme Court to declare that the Electoral College votes from six key swing states that ultimately cost Trump a second term should not be counted because their results were fraudulent.
Olsen's plan also encouraged justices to order a 'special election' in those states.
Rosen denied Trump's request because he had already been in contact with Olsen, asking him to come up with Supreme Court precedents to back his claim.
That meant he was well-versed in the details of the same claims when they were made by Trump, and that he was able to use his legal knowledge to advise the president that there was zero change of such a strategy keeping him in office.
House investigators had previously released the emails between Rosen and Olsen.
Trump wanted Rosen to send a letter to Georgia that Jeffrey Clark wrote that falsely stated that the DOJ was investigating voter fraud in the state to overturn Joe Biden's win. Rosen denied Trump the request (pictured: Joe Biden)
Rosen testified that Trump pressured him to claim that continuing election fraud investigations would cast doubts of Joe Biden's presidential win, Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin told CNN's 'State of the Union.'
The ongoing investigations were organized after a New York Times article detailed the efforts of Jeffrey Clark, acting head of the Justice Department’s civil division during the Trump administration, to push top leaders to help subvert the election results.
Clark reportedly drafted a letter he wanted Rosen to send to Georgia state legislators that falsely stated the DOJ was investigating voter fraud in the state. Rosen denied the proposal.
Rosen told investigators that he persuaded the former president to agree with him. The DOJ did not sign the complaint.
Trump did not fire Rosen, although he did consider replacing him with Clark, according to the New York Times.
Rosen stated that the Justice Department did not find to affect the election.
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