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Schumer calls for IG probe into alleged plan by Trump, DOJ lawyer to oust acting AG

23 January 2021
 Dan Ackermann

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Saturday called for the Justice Department inspector general to investigate an alleged plan by former President Trump and a DOJ lawyer to remove the acting attorney general and replace him with someone more willing to investigate unfounded claims of election fraud.

Driving the news: The New York Times first reported Friday that the lawyer, Jeffrey Clark, allegedly devised "ways to cast doubt on the election results and to bolster Mr. Trump’s continuing legal battles and the pressure on Georgia politicians. Because Mr. [Jeffrey] Rosen had refused the president’s entreaties to carry out those plans, Mr. Trump was about to decide whether to fire Mr. Rosen and replace him with Mr. Clark."

  • Trump ultimately decided not to fire Rosen after DOJ officials unanimously decided they would resign if the then-president went through with the plan, The Times reported. The acting attorney general and Clark also each made their case in a "bizarre White House meeting that two officials compared with an episode of Mr. Trump’s reality show 'The Apprentice.'"

Clark "categorically" denied that he crafted a plan to oust Rosen, per the Times and Washington Post, which also reported the alleged plan.

  • "Nor did I formulate recommendations for action based on factual inaccuracies gleaned from the Internet," Clark noted, according to the Post.
  • “There were no ‘maneuver[s].’ There was a candid discussion of options and pros and cons with the President. It is unfortunate that those who were part of a privileged legal conversation would comment in public about such internal deliberations, while also distorting any discussions. ... Observing legal privileges, which I will adhere to even if others will not, prevent me from divulging specifics regarding the conversation.”
  • The DOJ, Rosen and Trump declined to comment to the Times. An adviser told the paper that the justice system should investigate "rampant election fraud that has plagued our system for years."

What he's saying: "Unconscionable a Trump Justice Department leader would conspire to subvert the people's will," Schumer tweeted Saturday.

  • "The Justice Dept Inspector General must launch an investigation into this attempted sedition now," he added.
  • "And the Senate will move forward with Trump's impeachment trial," slated for the week of Feb. 8.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.