more on the lie that got donald trump into this trouble. former acting deputy general donoghue has been interviewed by jack smith s office. he hasn t been called in front of the grand jury investigating the 2020 election and january 6th. the former doj official told house lawmakers last year he repeatedly pushed back against baseless claims of a stolen election that were being peddled by trump and his allies. here is what he testified to in front of the january 6th house committee about a then conversation he had with president trump and the capitol correction. another one of your notes, you also noted mr. rosen said to mr. trump, quote, doj can t and won t snap its fingers and change the outcome of the election. how did the president respond to that, sir? he responded very quickly and said, essentially, that s not what i m asking you to do. i m just asking you to say it
said to mr. trump, quote, doj can t and won t snap its fingers and change the outcome of the election. how did the president respond to that, sir? he responded very quickly and said, essentially, that s not what i m asking you to do. what i m asking you to do is say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the republican congressman. ken, explain the significance of that and why that makes him such an important witness? that to me was the most dangerous episode of the whole affair. if the justice department had gone forward with that plan, it would have thrown the nation into chaos. that would have been the ultimate sort of question mark about whether the election was legitimate. these were donald trump s appointees, let s not forget. richard donohue and others stood up to him and said no, they wouldn t do that. that was a crucial moment in our democracy. whether it becomes part of this criminal case we expect will be filed soon remains to be seen.
has spoke within investigators. although he has yet to testify before the grand jury. richard donahue did speak with the grand jury probing january 6th and gave testimony about trump s plans to steal the election. according to donahue, trump wanted his doj to falsely tell legislators in battleground states that the election was corrupt. you also noted that mr. rosen said to mr. trump, quote, doj can t and won t snap its fingers and change the outcome of the election. how did the president respond to that, sir? very quickly and said, that s not what i m asking you to do. i m asking to you say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and congress. that was just one part of trump s plan. when the acting attorney general refused, trump hatched a new
outcome of the election. here s his description of how trump responded. you also noted that mr. rosen said to mr. trump, quote, doj can t and won t snap its fingers and change the outcome of the election. how did the president respond to that, sir? he responded very quickly and said, essentially, that s not what i m asking you do. what i m asking you to do is say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the republican congressmen. and that is exactly what trump and his allies did and continue to do to this day. they want you to believe because he broke the law, you should finish the job and burn down democracy. peter navarro, one of the authors of the plan to steal the 2020 election, is taking the lunacy even further. blaming democrats for the state of the country. roughly half of republicans and over a third of democrats believe america is on the brink of civil war. such an unthinkable war breaks
today, nbc news is reporting that richard donohue, who served as acting deputy attorney general near the end of the trump administration, has met with the special counsel s office. donohue is familiar to many of you because he testified before the house january 6th committee alongside former acting attorney general jeffrey rosen, and former assistant attorney general jeff engle about how they repeatedly rejected trump s claims of fraud in the election. it was clear to us there were a lot of people whispering in his ear, feeding him these conspiracy theories and allegations. i felt that being very blunt in that conversation might help make it clear to the president these allegations were simply not true. donohue, a lawyer, is an ideal source for jack smith because like any good attorney, he took contemporaneous notes during his phone calls and interactions with trump. at one point, he noted the acting attorney general told trump that the justice department can t and won t snap its f