The White House Chief of Staff Pressured DOJ to Investigate Conspiracy Theories At Least Fives Times
- Newly released documents substantiate recent reports that former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows pressured DOJ officials—on at least five occasions—to investigate baseless claims of election fraud or put pressure on other officials to pursue these claims.
- On December 30, 2020, Mr. Meadows forwarded Mr. Rosen an email from Cleta Mitchell, a Trump advisor who later participated in a January phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. During that call, President Trump reportedly asked Georgia election officials to “find” enough votes to declare him the winner of the state. The December 30 email contained allegations of “video issues in Fulton County.” Mr. Meadows wrote to Mr. Rosen: “Can you have your team look into these allegations of wrongdoing. Only the alleged fraudulent activity.”
- Later on December 30, 2020, Mr. Meadows emailed Mr. Rosen a translation of a document from an individual in Italy claiming to have “direct knowledge” of a plot by which American electoral data was changed in Italian facilities “in coordination with senior US intelligence officials (CIA)” and loaded onto “military satellites.” This individual claimed that the true data, as well as sources within the conservative wing of the Italian secret service, confirmed that Donald Trump was “clearly the winner” of the 2020 election.
- On January 1, 2021, Mr. Meadows emailed Mr. Rosen on three separate occasions to provide unsubstantiated claims about election fraud or ask him to take direct action to change the results:
- At 3:08 p.m., Mr. Meadows sent Mr. Rosen a YouTube link referencing the Italy conspiracy, labeled “Brad Johnson: Rome, Satellites, Servers: an Update.” Mr. Rosen forwarded the email to Mr. Donoghue, who responded: “Pure insanity.” Mr. Rosen explained to Mr. Donoghue that after receiving the message, he was asked to have the FBI meet with Brad Johnson, who Mr. Rosen learned “is working with Rudy Giuliani.” Mr. Rosen said he refused the request.
- At 4:13 p.m., Mr. Meadows sent another email to Mr. Rosen, writing: “There have been allegations of signature match anomalies in Fulton county, Ga. Can you get Jeff Clark to engage on this issue immediately to determine if there is any truth to this allegation.” Mr. Rosen forwarded this email to Mr. Donoghue with the comment: “Can you believe this? I am not going to respond to the message below.”
- At 6:56 p.m., Mr. Meadows forwarded Mr. Rosen a document alleging voting irregularities and problems with Dominion machines in New Mexico and asking Mr. Rosen for his “team to review the allegations contained herein.”
Requests for Transcribed Interviews
In light of these new documents, the Committee has requested that the following officials appear for a transcribed interview regarding any efforts by President Trump and others to advance unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud or seek to overturn the 2020 election:
- Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows
- Former Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue
- Former Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark
- Former Associate Deputy Attorney General Patrick Hovakimian
- Former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia Byung Jin Pak
On May 21, 2021, the Committee invited Mr. Rosen to appear for a transcribed interview on these matters.
Click here to read the documents released today.
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