Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal suggests CRIMINAL charges 'may be appropriate' after Trump's acting AG testified about president's 'frightening' bid to overturn the election before he left office
Democrat Senator Richard Blumenthal hinted at possible criminal charges for some in Donald Trump's orbit on Monday after bombshell testimony from the former acting attorney general revealed damning accusations about the ex-president's final months in office.
Speaking to CNN's New Day Monday, the Connecticut Senator accused Donald Trump of 'trying to break the Department of Justice' by stepping over Acting DOJ head Jeffrey Rosen with the help of close ally Jeffrey Clark in a massive pressure campaign to overturn the election.
'There is a lot of reason to believe that more individuals than just Jeffrey Clark participated in this scheme,' Blumenthal said. 'And there is more than ample reason to think that some kind of criminal charges may be appropriate.'
Blumenthal said 'more individuals' than just former Trump DOJ lawyer Jeffrey Clark assisted in the ex-president's alleged efforts to overturn the election on CNN Monday
¿There is a lot of reason to believe that more individuals than just Jeffrey Clark participated in the scheme. And ... some kind of criminal charges may be appropriate,¿ Sen. Richard Blumenthal says after Trump¿s acting AG Jeffrey Rosen¿s testimony.https://t.co/sjZ1Vg3T28 pic.twitter.com/bcgvlMOcGq
— New Day (@NewDay) August 9, 2021
¿There is a lot of reason to believe that more individuals than just Jeffrey Clark participated in the scheme. And ... some kind of criminal charges may be appropriate,¿ Sen. Richard Blumenthal says after Trump¿s acting AG Jeffrey Rosen¿s testimony.https://t.co/sjZ1Vg3T28 pic.twitter.com/bcgvlMOcGq
During a seven-hour closed-door Judiciary Committee hearing on Saturday, Rosen - a Trump appointee - told lawmakers that Trump launched a pressure campaign against the Justice Department to overturn his election defeat.
Blumenthal, a member of the committee, initially declined to say what potential charges could be in store but said the alleged illegal activity includes 'potential false statements, obstruction of justice, attempts to impede the lawful activity of the United States.'
'What Donald Trump did here - in effect - was try to overthrow the election, and there are all kinds of potential criminal charges, because asking the Department of Justice to call an election corrupt, falsely, is potentially a criminal violation, and there ought to be responsibility and accountability here,' he said.
Blumenthal said he hoped Clark would appear voluntarily in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee after ex-Acting AG Rosen implicated him and Donald Trump in efforts to use the DOJ to overturn the election
In his Senate testimony Rosen also described Clark, an assistant AG, attempting to get Rosen to send a letter to Georgia lawmakers asserting they should void Joe Biden's election victory.
Blumenthal said the committee's focus now would widen to probe whether others in Trump's circle were involved, and committee chair Dick Durbin would make a decision on further witnesses.
The committee's eventual findings would be in a forthcoming report, he said.
Blumenthal said he hopes Clark would appear 'voluntarily' in front of the committee in the future, adding that 'members of Congress who had a role' could also be called.
His interview comes after Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin revealed Sunday that Trump's acting Justice Department head Rosen said the former president pressured the office to overturn his 2020 defeat.
Trump-era Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen said Trump directly pressured him to cast doubt on Joe Biden's victory
'It was real. Very real. And it was very specific,' Senator Durbin told CNN's State of the Union regarding the duress. 'The former president is not subtle when he wants something.'
Durbin said Rosen provided 'invaluable' testimony.
According to the Democratic senator, Rosen testified that Trump directly pressured him to falsely assert that continuing election fraud investigations cast doubt on President Joe Biden's victory.
Durbin praised Rosen, a conservative lawyer, for his voluntary cooperation with the committee's ongoing investigation into Trump's actions after the election.
'He told us a lot in seven hours of testimony, and I might quickly add, this was done on a bipartisan basis.'
'Mr. Rosen appeared voluntarily, which says a lot – and cooperated with us,' Durbin lauded.
'I thought he was very open and there's a lot there, an awful lot there,' he added.
'What was going on in the Department of Justice was frightening from a constitutional point of view,' Durbin said, adding that was evident by the fact that former Attorney General Bill Barr prematurely vacated his office after concluding there were no irregularities in the 2020 election.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin revealed the new information in a Sunday interview with CNN , claiming it came out during Rosen's seven hours of closed-door testimony on Saturday
According to the Democratic Illinois senator, Rosen testified that Trump directly pressured him to falsely assert that continuing election fraud investigations cast doubt on President Joe Biden's victory.
'I have to say history is going to very kind to Mr. Rosen when this is all over. When he was initially appointed, I didn't think that was the case. I was wrong,' Durbin said, adding: 'It's a good thing for America we had someone like Rosen in that position.'
Rosen's testimony came a week after a House of Representatives committee released Justice Department documents showing Trump had urged top officials last year to falsely claim his election defeat was 'corrupt.'
'Just say that the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me and the R. Congressmen,' Trump told Rosen, referring to Republicans, in a Dec. 27 phone call, according to handwritten notes taken by a Rosen aide.
The notes showed Rosen told Trump the department could not and would not 'change the outcome of the election.'
Durbin said in the CNN interview that his committee also wants testimony from former Attorney General Bill Barr, who Rosen replaced during the final weeks of Trump's presidency.
Barr stepped down in December, shortly after the Electoral College confirmed Trump's loss to Biden.
Trump's ex-Attorney General Bill Barr stepped down shortly before the end of the former president's term after his Justice Department probe found no irregularities in the 2020 election
Barr had angered Trump by not supporting his false claims that the Nov. 3 election result had been tainted by widespread fraud. Multiple courts, state election officials and members of Trump's administration rejected those claims as unfounded.
Durbin said he also wants to hear from former Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark, who reportedly plotted with Trump to try to oust Rosen so he could take over the Justice Department.
'I would like to bring in Jeffrey Clark, for example,' Durbin said. 'He was the heir apparent in Trump's mind if Rosen was not going to do his bidding. And Rosen stood fast and didn't.'
When asked if Trump engaged in an attempted coup, Durbin said: 'It was leading up to that process.'
Durbin declined to say whether Trump should face criminal charges for his efforts to subvert the election, saying it was too early in the investigation to answer that question.