Trump to DOJ: “Just Say the Election Was Corrupt and Leave the Rest to Me”
Two rather large pieces of news today. First, new evidence of Donald Trump’s criminal coup attempt: Trump to DOJ: ‘Just say that the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me’.
Former President Donald Trump pressured acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen to declare that the election was corrupt in an attempt to help Republican members of Congress try to overturn the election result, according to notes of a December 2020 call Trump held with Rosen and acting deputy attorney general Richard Donoghue.
During the December 27, 2020, call, Trump pressured Rosen and Donoghue to falsely declare the election “illegal” and “corrupt” even after the Justice Department had not uncovered evidence of widespread voter fraud.
“Just say that the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me and the R. Congressmen,” Trump said on the call, according to Donoghue’s notes.
Second, but not least: Trump tax returns must be released by IRS to Congress, DOJ says.
The DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel in a written opinion said that the Democratic-lead House Ways and Means Committee had made a request with a legitimate legislative purpose to see Trump’s tax returns, with a stated objective of assessing how the IRS audits presidents’ tax returns.
Under federal law, the tax-related committees of Congress have a “broad right” to obtain taxpayer information from the Treasury Department, the IRS’s parent,the 39-page opinion noted.
“The statute at issue here is unambiguous: ‘Upon written request’ of the chairman of one of the three congressional tax committees, the Secretary ‘shall furnish’ the requested tax information to the Committee,′ ” the opinion said.
It’s shaping up to be a bad day for Donald Trump, but even with this I’ll still be surprised if he ever faces real accountability for his crimes.