Page 57 - Devlin Barrett News Today

Former President Donald Trump's last attorney general has told U.S. senators his boss was "persistent" in trying to pressure the Justice Department to discredit the results of the 2020 election.

Trump’s last acting attorney general told lawmakers he had to “persuade the president not to pursue a different path.”

Attorney for the eastern district of michigan, currently law professor at the university of michigan. and devlin merits here, a law enforcement reporter. thanks to both of you for time tonight. >> barbara, its a great piece, but for our viewers, detail the crimes that donald trump could or should be investigated for? >> at this point, of course, doj should just begin investigating. there is enough evidence in the public domain to suggest any number of crimes that have been committed. number one,...

Grave mistake. >> you know, devlin, its such a sign of the ethical and legal potential monstrosities of the ex-president that barbara mcquade mentions illegal voter fraud and hatch act violations as the smaller things in the list of seven. i wonder if you can speak to the fact that donald trump has brazenly flouted norms slash laws forfive years, and the impediment was always that you could not indict a sitting president. robert mueller describes five or six acts of what sound like criminal obst...

They can put people into the grand jury and asked them what happened. i think one of the most damning things that has come out in addition to those quote notes you mentioned, nicole, is the draft letter from jeffrey clark that we saw that, in my, mind lays out the roadmap of what the endgame here was in the conspiracy. that letter was to be addressed to the state of georgia, telling them what to do about their own election. telling them, you know the legislature under federal law can come in and...

But there was never a serious conversation about investigating and charging him because he was president. has that changed behind closed doors at the justice department? >> to my knowledge it hasnt changed yet, but you have to remember there is a constant collection of evidence. and, you know, in theory could that view change? i think we have to see. i think one of the the big things we have to see is what does jeffrey rosen say specifically about his te conversations. we have the notes, and obv...

Believed the big lie. >> and its amazing. it puts his phone call in different light, too, when you read that letter from mr. clark. barbara mcquade, former u.s. attorney for the eastern district of michigan, devlin barrett, the "washington post" reporter, to be continued. thank you again both so much for your time tonight. coming up for us, will the u.s. military be stepping up its efforts in the fight against thl war on covid. more on that just ahead. re on t. wow. so sudden. um, were not abo...

Jeffrey rosen says in front of a microphone. and i think the same holds true for richard donahue. and a handful of other senior justice department officials who wrestled with this in realtime. so i understand barbs argument here, shes a smart lawyer, but i do think there is a lot more to the picture that needs to be understood before you can make any determination about criminal activity here. >> barbara, im sure its your understanding as well that as we start to see these pieces come into publi...

If were to maintain our democracy and respect for the rule of law, efforts to overturn a fair election simply cannot be tolerated and trumps conduct o, must be investigated. joan joining us now, one of the authors of that piece, barbara mcquade, the former u.s. attorney for the eastern district of michigan, currently a law professor at the university of michigan. torf and devlin barrett is here, "the washington post" security and law enforcement reporter.in thank you for your time tonight. barba...

Know essentially staying out as best they can from that fight. so he keeps touching these very complicated, very tricky issues. i think you are right, the notes are taken for a reason. they were taken because he feels there need to be some kind of record that this is going on. and importantly, he needs to preserve as much what trump said, which is what we are focusing on. i think from the justice departments view, they need to preserve what they said and they did. that very important, you can se...