The emails citing conspiracy theories were sent to then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen.
Former President Donald Trump repeatedly pressured the Justice Department to overturn Joe Biden’s victory, at one point urging prosecutors to file a Supreme Court lawsuit to nullify the election, according to new emails released Tuesday by the House Oversight Committee. The emails from Trump and his aides during the last weeks of his presidency revealed bogus claims of fraud and conspiracy theories to win then-Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen’s support, prompting outrage from Rosen’s deputy. “Pure insanity,” wrote then-Deputy AG Richard Donoghue, after receiving a YouTube link from Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows about a theory involving Italian spies. Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., called the 232-page report a smoking gun that proves Trump wanted to block certification of Biden’s win – a campaign that eventually led to the Jan.6 storming of the Capitol. “Trump tried to corrupt our nation’s chief law enforcement agency in a brazen attempt to overturn an election that he lost,” said Maloney. The emails cited debunked claims of voter fraud in various swing states and outlandish claims spouted by far right-wing conspiracy theorists that Italy used military satellites to switch votes to Biden. Maloney said the new documents prove the necessity of forcing officials like Meadows, Rosen and former Attorney General Bill Barr to testify under oath about Trump’s and their own actions.
