. >> according to the senate testimony from richard donahue, former acting attorney general trump cold doj officials something to the effect of people are trying to address this problem. scott perry and mastriano. the democrat-led committee said ties to january 6th are particularly notable. and warrant further investigation. in the days after trump's call with doj officials, mastriano wrote election fraud is real and prevalent in pennsylvania, laying out his evidence of fraud, which has been repeatedly debunked and adding, this election is an embarrassment to our nation.

richard donahue or anyone else that previously discussed mr.rk we can't reaching out to you in any way? >> yes. and december 30th are 31st, i can't remember exactly. i knew it was before new year's. richard donahue called me and told me he was very frustrated because president trump was solely focused on georgia. with respect to any voter fraud allegations. and he had commented, that nothing would dissuade him from believing the election was stolen from him. mr. donahue stated that the president just would not believe that he lost georgia. i don't know why. he didn't explain why. and i reiterated to him that we looked into several allegations. obviously we concluded there's nothing there. this is kind of disturbing, because in substance it met his own people had looked into it and reported back up. mr. donahue then asked me whether i knew jeffrey clark. i told him no i did not know jeffrey clark. who is he? mr. donahue explained to me that clark was the assistant general for the environmental natural resources division, and he was also at the t

nine times that the president himself reached out to rosen, to his deputy, richard donahue, to try to pressure them to try to do something to help his cause. trump also was essentially trying to figure out how to install jeffery clark, a lower level official, who he believed was going to try to do some of these things. and we know that this led to an extraordinary meeting at the end of december where a number of officials were threatening to resign, including pat cipollone, who was the top lawyer inside the white house counsel, who told the president that this idea of putting clark in to try to carry out his wishes was a murder/suicide pact, essentially telling the president, don't do this because everybody's going to resign, and this is all going to collapse around you. victor? >> it's just jaw-dropping, what we learned from this report. evan perez, thank you so much. let's talk about these subpoenas now. it is deadline day for the four trump loyalists. last month, the committee issued the subpoenas for mark meadows, dan scavino, steve bannon and kash patel. they're supposed to compl

richard donahue was number two at the justice department. and he took detailed notes about a conversation that president trump had with acting attorney general at the time. and at the time trump was trying to pressure them into saying that the election was corrupt and that they shouldn't recognize the results. so they want to get to the bottom of that and really understand just how we got to everything that happened on january 6th. >> the former president said the real insurrection wasn't on january 6th. it was on november 3rd. >> that's a stunning state. >> we always talk about the outrage muscle being worked to fatigue. but that is pretty nuts as an admission by the former president. what is the risk for these folks clearly doing, it seems, what donald trump wants them to do instead of fulfilling their obligations under the law? >> yeah. that was a pretty remarkable comment by the former president, saying that the actual insurrection was what happened on election day. that is something he talked about. i'm sure it will come up at his rally

committees democratic staff reports says, at some point during the, meeting deputy attorney general, richard donahue, and assistant attorney general steven angle, made clear that all of the assistant attorneys general would resign if trump replaced rosen with clark. donahue added that the mass resignations, would not end there, and that u.s. attorneys, and other doj officials, might also resign on. they also recalled white house counsel -- deputy counsel patrick philbin, pushing back against the proposal to replace rosen with, clark calling clark splitter a murder suicide pact. in the two white house lawyers indicating that they would also resign. despite being informed early on, that the clark course of action would prompt mass resignations, and even though, every participant in the meeting except clark, advocated strongly against that course of action, trump continued for some time, to entertain the idea, of installing clark in rosen's place. in so donald trump, who throughout his life has been a cowardly man. got scared. he was afraid, of many or most of the u.s. attorneys, and hundreds of assist

richard donahue was with the phone calls with the president, and he was taking notes when donald trumpas corrupt, and leave the rest to me. which are donahue and the acting -- were active resist airs against donald trump's attempts to overturn the presidential election. donald trump had no way to get around that resistance within his own administration. and the office to the secretary state of georgia for example. because donald trump does not really know how to do anything. he knows nothing about government, or how to make things happen in government. we have a new perspective on donald trump's ineptitude, in fiona hill fiona hill's new book. she left bishop auckland in to pursue her studies which led to -- national television officer with expertise on russia and the administrations of presidential which w. bush and president barack obama. she continued her service in that position during the trump presidency, and eventually found herself testifying about and against the presidents in the first impeachment of donald trump. in her new book entitled there is nothing for you here, fiona

. >> according to the senate testimony from richard donahue, former acting attorney general trump coldicials something to the effect of people are trying to address this problem. scott perry and mastriano. the democrat-led committee said ties to january 6th are particularly notable. and warrant further investigation. in the days after trump's call with doj officials, mastriano wrote election fraud is real and prevalent in pennsylvania, laying out his evidence of fraud, which has been repeatedly debunked and adding, this election is an embarrassment to our nation. featuring rudy giuliani and trump by phone spreading election lies. >> this was, very sad to say it, this election was rigged and we can't let that happen. >> he went to organize buses at the rally in d.c. while he condemned the violence later that day. >> i join with all the other americans in condemning what happened at the capitol. it should never have happened and it's unacceptable. >> video footage confirming he and his wife passed through police lines at the u.s. capitol. mastriano said police lines shifted during the da

former doj second in command richard donahue spoke to the panel friday. he was figure in the campaign to get the doj to overturn the election. took detailed notes on conversation with jeffrey rozen. appear near a deal to keep the nation from economic collapse for now. with 12 days go before the government faces real possibility of not being able to pay its bills the minority leader said they'll allow an extension. likely to have the fight in december again. mcconnell has been adamant that democrats would get no help to deal with the debt, most of it racked up in the trump administration. president met with bank and business leaders at white house to talk about how devastating a potential default would be, figuring big money would get attention of the republicans. also reminded everyone present raising borrowing limit was not linked to his economic agenda. >> let me be clear, raising the debt limit is paying old debts. nothing to do with new spending coming this year or other years, nothing to do with my plans on infrastructure or building back better, bot

richard donahue. the second in command was against it. it is notable that clark was the only one we're aware of who was participating in the effort. it tells you something about just how fringy these efforts were. too fringy for trump's most loyal government and administration attorneys. >> entirely possible not too fringy to have actually happened which is the concern we got. betsy, good to see you. thank you for joining us. betsy woodruf swan. >>> we might be looking at a breakthrough for the biden administration. democrats may be poised to strike a deal that so far alluded them. here is what we know about what is likely to stay in the big bill and what is likely to not make the cut. what is likely to stay in the bill is federal paid leave. four weeks of it. a bit of an embarrassment. down from the initially proposed 12 weeks. most countries, developed countries and non developed countries do better than this. universal pre-k. child tax credit gets a one-year extension. vouchers for dental costs. increases to pell grants and unspecified

. >>> now, a source confirms former acting deputy attorney general richard donahue is among the first to testify for the capitol hill. they took steps to overturn the 2020 election. meanwhile today is the deadline for four trump allies you've seen there subpoenaed by the committee to turnover documents. the panel hasn't been able to serve former trump aide dan scavino with a subpoena because they can't find him. they want to ask about trump's actions on january 6 including this statement. take a listen. >> go home. we love you. you're very special. you've seen what happens. you see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil. i know how you feel. >> well, trump has issued a statement saying the real insurrection happened on november 3rd. the presidential election, not on january 6, which was a day of protesting the fake election results. the investigation into january 6 could be the biggest of its kind in u.s. history, and penalties for those who don't cooperate could be severe. >> the biggest surprise to me is that the house has not gotten itself in shape. there are proced

currently cooperating with the one six investigation, political reports former doj second-in-command, richard donahue spoke to the panel, in a closed-door session on friday. he was a pivotal figure actually in trump's relentless pressure campaign, to get the doj to just overturn the 2020 election. he took detailed notes on a december 27th phone call, between trump and the acting attorney general jeffrey rosen, in which trump tried to get the doj to straight-up declare the election results were fraudulent. meanwhile, senate democrat certain republicans appear near a deal, to keep the nation from debt defaults, an economic meltdown. for now, with 12 days to go before the government faces the real possibility of not being able to pay its bills. the minority leader announced republicans would allow democrats to vote on a short term extension. all this does is put it off till december, when we are likely to have this fight all over again. mcconnell's been adamant that democrats would get no help from his party, and trying to cover our 28 trillion dollar debt, much of it racked up during the trump administ

richard donahue told the senate judiciary committee.nd army veteran is facing scrutiny as new details emerge about his role in trump's plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. >> scott perry of pennsylvania. scott, thank you. >> reporter: perry has said he's unaware of any gop lawmakers playing a role in the capitol insurrection. >> i don't know of any. we're here and open for the investigation. if people are culpable, they need to be -- justice needs to prevail in that regard. >> reporter: but a report from the democrat-led senate panel says trump allies, including perry, have notable ties to january 6th. and these ties warrant further investigation. >> how does the president incite an attack that was preplanned and already under way before his speech concluded? >> and the house select committee investigating january 6th wants phone records of several lawmakers, including perry. >> jeff clark. >> reporter: perry admitted introducing him to jeffrey clark to led the justice department civil division. he attempted a near c

the president himself reached out to jeffrey rosen who was then the acting attorney general, to richard donahue deputy, the acting deputy attorney general to try to get them to do something, to try to say that the doj was finding some irregularities which, of course, there were none. trump was also pushing to get jeffrey clark, another official down at the justice department who he thought would be willing to do this, to have him become the acting attorney general and then it became so much that during a key meeting in september, pat cipollone and other lawyers told the president they would resign with a number of other justice department officials and essentially if he had put jeffrey clark in this group would be a suicide pact. strong words and it gives you a sense of what was happening. republicans said after this rap that in the end he listened to his advisers, yes, he listened to them but the extraordinary pressure they were under is because of the them standing up to him. and this report was done by the senate january committee and there's still a problem with the select committee in the

that prompted acting deputy attorney general richard donahue to call him that night to tell him to resign which he did. republicans have already issued a rebuttal to the report dismissing the idea trump was attempting a coup noting that ultimately no action was taken by the doj. >> so president trump assembled a bunch of people in his office and they discussed what they ought to do. >> reporter: there is still more to find out. the committee is waiting for records from the national a archives which could shed more light on the pressure from the white house and democrats say jeffrey clark has not yet agreed to an interview. >> this has been a massive attack on the integrity of the voting system in the greatest democracy on earth. >> reporter: new documents reveal rudy guiliani and other trump allies testified under oath they did little to verify these false election fraud claims before blasting them out to the public. in a sworn deposition, guiliani acknowledged he did not have all the facts before falsely accusing a dominion voting systems executive of changing votes for joe biden. defend

politico reporting the select committee has interviewed richard donahue, the justice department's secondiar with his name, it's probably a good time to learn it. why? politico laying out multiple committees that have been interested in talking to him or already have, that might be because he took notes on a call between former president trump and the then acting attorney general, quote, in which the former president had pressured justice department officials to call the 2020 election corrupt and illegal even as they told trump claims of voter fraud were false. with me now is national correspondent for politico betsy woodruff swan, also an msnbc political contributor. betsy, good to have you on the show, thank you. one of the things you pointed out in your piece is this the one of the panel's first interviews. did they plan it that way, should we read into that? >> that's right, donahue has so far aimed to be cooperative with congressional investigators looking into what happened on january 6. that makes him a major outlier as far as former trump administration officials. but he also spok

rosen's deputy, is number two, is that guy, he's a guy named richard donahue, previously served as -- york district of. new york there's a third character here, this guy got to keep in mind. his name is jeffrey clark he's a, lesser-known official in the apartment. and he went full insurrectionist and essentially plotted with trump to use the department of justice to foment trump's coup. even if that required getting rid of his own boss jeffrey rosen. now, we already knew about it that plan to push out rosen and replace him with the coup lackey clark. but senate report provides new contacts and new revelations. details are meeting on january 3rd, three days before the fateful day, in the oval office, in this meeting, you've got rosen. right. the guy who's running the department of jaws, this donahue, and clark was. there along with white house counsel pat cipollone in his. deputy according to rosen, trump opened the meeting, and i'm gonna read this quote to you, and i want to sink, in by saying, one thing we know is you, rosen,, aren't going to do anything to overturn the election. ove

that prompted acting deputy attorney general richard donahue to call him that night to tell him to resigneport dismsi

then according to committee testimony from department of justice second in command richard donahue, "trump asked that doj," department of justice, "just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the republican congressmen," whom donoghue understood to be the republican house members who would be challenging the electoral college certification on january 6th. he was rebuffed, thank goodness. the meeting went on for up to three hours. only at the end after being presented with the prospect of mass resignations at justice department if he replaced rose nguyen clark did the former president actually relent. and nowhere, not found in one bit of testimony about the moment, did he say, we're not doing this because it would be wrong. of course we're not doing this because it would be wrong. his only complaint according to richard donoghue is about not being able to pull it off. now look at senator grassley's take on the former president's conduct there and throughout the affair. it's posted on his website. and i'm quoting now. "the available evidence shows that president trump

and if there is no facts or evidence, then richard donahue, nicole i know you follow this very carefully, who was the deputy attorney general in early january, has notes saying that he told donald trump there was not overt fraud, that there was no fraud to support his claims. and trump said, oh, don't worry, just say it so that the republican congressman and i will take care of it. that knowledge that there was no basis for their allegations will be very central to any conspiracy case against donald trump, his senior advisers or others for subverting the will of the people, interfering with the lawful election, federal election, in early november. >> let me just ask you one more question. then i have that note from mr. dan hue's notes, quote, this is trump talking, according to notes taken by mr. donahue in a call between mr. rosen and donald trump. quote, i don't expect to you do that. just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and our congressman. is it your believe, dan goldman, that those our congressmen are already under investigation, and donald trump, for their rol

former doj second in command richard donahue. doj to declare the election results fraudulent. eugene daniels is joining us. tell me about this reporting. >> i mean, this is the thing that we know is that they are talking to any and everyone -- trying to talk to any and everyone, the things that they are hearing from donahue are things that we've seen in reporting already. where what was president trump doing, how far was he willing to go. and i think that that is what the democrats on this committee are so concerned about and so interested in finding out the information for. and something that is when it comes to whether or not people will come, you are talking about people like meadows come and actually testify, this is not just about finding all of the truth and finding the information, it is also about asserting congressional power. because we saw during the trump administration how trump aides continuously dodged -- or didn't comply with congressional -- the congress asking them to come speak and that happened over and over a

the deputy attorney general richard donahue and assistant attorney general steven engle made clear all the assistant attorneys general would resign if trump replaced rose within clark. donahue added the mass resignations likely would not end there and other u.s. attorneys and other d.o.j. officials might resign en masse. donahue and rosen also rrld pat cipolloy and patrick philbin pushing back against a proposal to replace rosen with clark calling clark's letter a murder-suicide pact and the two white house lawyers reporting they would also resign. trump only backed down in the final two or three minutes. the pursuing documents were the trump white house could reveal more bombshells. this report is leading lawmakers to understanding how close we came in this country to having the election overturned. >> he was pushing the department of justice to bend to his political will. i tell you, i don't think i am overstating the case, we were half a step away from a full-blown constitutional crisis f. rosen would have folded. if the other parts of the members of leadership and the department of

our report shows in detail how relentless this president was, were it not for jeffrey rosen, richard owe donahue and eight members of the department of justice who said we'll resign if you take rosen out of the picture and put clark in, jeffrey clark in, if those efforts weren't made, we could have seen a collapse of that department of justice into a political entity. they already had their handpicked successor, man named jeffrey clark, ready to take over. and he was involved in areas that he should not have even touched as head of the division. >> jeffrey clark was the acting assistant attorney general who was willing and trying to push many of these claims and get states to do things on the basis of arguments that simply weren't true. you mentioned there was a threat of a mass resignation by the acting attorney general jeffrey rosen and from reading parts of the report, i've been pouring over it the last few minutes as i could, the white house counsel at that time pat cipollone was also involved. what was his role? >> it was a good role. i won't speak to everything pat cipollone has done in th

bill barr submitted his resignation as attorney general, president trump apparently considered richard donahue as a replacement showing his displeasure with rosen. third and final fact, president trump accepted acting attorney general rosen's position that the department not file a lawsuit against the states with reported voter issues. the democrats' report makes much of the effort by individual lawyers to push the department to take these steps, but the fact is none of these steps were taken because president trump made the ultimate decision not to take those steps. at each of these critical decision points, the president asked his advisers for their candid views and their candid recorecommendations -- recommendations and the president followed them. now ask yourself this. where would we be now if president biden followed the advice and recommendations of his advisers regarding afghanistan. and we know would those advices were because we heard them last week before committees of the house and senate by the generals who were testifying. again, i'm not sure why the committee is releasing transc