Washington. Lawmakers investigating the riot against the US Capitol yesterday exposed Donald Trump’s “brazen” efforts to turn the Justice Department into his “personal” law firm in order to annul the election in which he was defeated by Joe Biden. .
In the fifth hearing of its year-long investigation into the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, riots, the House panel detailed Trump’s pressure on officials as part of his campaign to falsely claim the presidency was stolen from him through a widespread electoral fraud.
“Trump not only wanted the Justice Department to investigate, he wanted it to help him legitimize his lies, to unsubstantiately call the election corrupt,” committee chairman Bennie Thompson said.
Lawmakers reviewed tensions between government lawyers the weekend before the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, when Trump tried to put one of his men at the top of the department.
“It was a brazen attempt to use the Justice Department to advance the president’s personal political agenda,” Thompson said.
The committee heard from Jeffrey Rosen, who became attorney general after Bill Barr resigned, and who quickly found himself at the center of Trump’s efforts to undermine confidence in the election.