Jeffrey Rosen, the former acting Attorney General in the final days of the Trump administration, was interviewed for eight hours on Wednesday by the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.
According to the Washington Post, Rosen told the committee about Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and how some in the Justice Department resisted those moves:
The committee on Wednesday also took eight hours of closed-door testimony from former acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen regarding the final days of the Trump administration, according to two people familiar with the meeting who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private testimony, as it also focuses on witnesses willing to voluntarily meet with the panel.
Many of the questions the committee had for Rosen dealt with his interactions with former DOJ official Jeffrey Clark, who was subpoenaed by the committee on Wednesday:
Clark authored and circulated a draft letter dated Dec. 28, addressed to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) that urged officials in the state to investigate unfounded claims of fraud,” writes the paper. “The Washington Post has previously reported that in early January, Trump entertained a plan to oust acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen and replace him with Clark, who was open to pursuing Trump’s attempts to overturn the election results.
Clark is one of the key figures in Trump’s attempt to use specious claims of voter fraud to decertify the election and allow him to remain as president. Some Republicans in Congress also took part in those efforts, with Sens. Ted Cruz (TX) and Josh Hawley (MO) refusing to approve the electoral votes when both houses met in a joint session to officially name Joe Biden as president.
Rosen’s testimony is seen as essential to determining what former Trump administration officials should be charged with crimes when the Jan. 6 committee issues its final report, the Post notes:
Rosen recounted his detailed handwritten notes with the committee and walked through how DOJ deployed resources on Jan 6, pushing back against the notion that the department was slow to act that day, according to this person. The former acting attorney general testified that he spoke with all of congressional leadership on Jan. 6, along with at least one senior White House official.
The committee is in the process of constructing a comprehensive timeline, starting from the time Rosen was preparing for Jan. 6 to when Trump was considering replacing him with Clark, according to one of the persons familiar with Wednesday’s testimony.
Trump has told former aides such as Steve Bannon and Mark Meadows to ignore subpoenas from the Jan. 6 committee, which could lead to them being charged with contempt and arrested.