tonight that swimmer sharing her story in an nbc news exclusive. announcer: this is nbc nightly news with lester holt good evening an unsent letter described as a murder-suicide pact by a former trump white house lawyer stood at the core of testimony in today s january 6 committee hearing. three former top justice department officials describing former president trump s efforts to enlist help from the department to perpetuate his unsupported claims of election fraud, including pressure on the doj to send an official letter to georgia election officials. that letter falsely stating the justice department had identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election. when doj leaders refused to sign it, the president reportedly telling them just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me today s hearing focusing on the actions of former assistant attorney general jeffrey clark who witnesses say stood ready to do mr. trump s bidding. let
president by pennsylvania republican scott perry, who was among several members of congress who testimony showed later asked for presidential pardons did he contact you directly yes, he did reporter: perry had previously called claims he asked for a pardon a, quote, soulless lie top doj officials debunking conspiracy theories pushed by the president and his aides, including a youtube video suggesting italian satellites were used to switch trump votes to biden, flagged by chief of staff mark meadows. i emailed the acting attorney general, and i said pure insanity, which was my impression of video which was patently absurd. reporter: while trump allies dismissed the committee s work as a democratic distraction. it s a political committee, and the one thing i do know and the american public knows, gas has gone up $1.86 a gallon since the day nancy pelosi announced that