to influence jeffrey rosen and intervening into the selection contest. when i say full-court press i mean repeated telephone calls and meetings in the white house over a period of two weeks. this report which we have brought to the attention of the public as well as members of theri committee went into detail over a period of time it was an incredible moment which most americans did not even know what was going on. step away from a constitutional crisis. because of the president was trying to dohe is to convince the attorney general to contact leaders in the states where he thought he had won the election to tell them to not certifying the results with the alternative set of electors but in each of these cases president trump was pushing a theory of why he had one crazy from silly to outlandish one was called italy gate. and then some notion to intercept the voting machines inin america that is the nature of things. and in the state of georgia the president and his supporters were arguing they had videotapes proving they brought in suitcases and they sho

in fact, former acting attorney general jeffrey rosen whose role in all of this has been fascinating to see. you remember william barr handed him a flaming wreckage of the justice department and pieced out a letter about how great trump was. rosen just testified to the january 6th select committee today voluntarily. didn't have to be subpoenaed. went in and answered questions. looks like it was about eight hours. well, now the committee wants to hear from trump's apparent pick to replace him. that would be mr. jeffrey clark. and so they sent clark a subpoena today asking him to produce documents and appear before the committee itself on october 29th. if he does appear, it would shed a whole lot of light on what exactly happened at the justice department in the last days of the trump administration. >> obviously he's a person of interest. he's the central person in this saga, and at some point in the committee before a grand jury someplace his testimony is going to be obtained. >> now, the senate judiciary committee, you saw sheldon whitehouse talking to rachel. he's a member of that c

thankfully jeffrey rosen and other leaders stood up and said no. it's significant he testified for eight hours. jeffrey clark has some serious problems now. one, the committee is trying to compel him to testify, as they should. jeffrey clark tried to commit a fraud. he drafted a letter saying d.o.j. has identified concerns about election fraud in georgia. that's just false. jeffrey clark needs think about potential criminal exposure, too, committing a fraud is a crime, conspiracy is a crime, election interference is a crime. he has the right to take the fifth. he might be well advised to do so here. >> his attorneys argue he's bound by executive privileges belonging to president trump. the former president is not the sitting president. ben was not a white house official in january. he was actually already -- he was actually charged with something, with fraud, which the president then pardoned him for. what do you think bannon's end game is here? >> we mentioned in the intro to the segment the goal here in almost all cases is to delay. the hope is th

it's our understanding the new year's day, acting attorney jeffrey rosen, provided a different justiceartment official jeffrey clark, with yourself phone number. do you know what prompted mr. rosen to give mr. clark yourself on? number answer. i do not. question, had you and attorney general rosen or mr. richard donahue or anyone else that previously discussed mr. clark 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

our report shows that jeffrey rosen and the deputy, richard o.onohue, resisted this from the start. jeffrey clark, another assistant attorney general in the civil division who had nothing literally to do with this matter on a legal basis, were in contest from that point. clark, on the side of trump, saying that the letters to the states should be issued. and rosen o. donohue arguing there was no basis in fact, no proof of election fraud that could have warranted that kind of unprecedented action. in the meantime many other players like mark me doughs in the white house -- meadows in the white house were also pressuring the white house. the net result of it was a fateful day -- i believe it was january 3 of this year -- when the president called rosen, owe owe owe -- rosen, o. donohue, clark to the white house to resume his effort to replace rosen with clark, a more complicit person in the process. at that moment two things happened which were significant. the white house counsel cippilone, descended from the president position and said it was a m

that's what jeffrey rosen was told. he was acting attorney general. the deputy attorney general was rich donaghue. in his interview with the investigation and the senate judiciary committee, his interview also unsealed today, he explains what it was like to talk to trump about this scheme, about this plot at the white house on january 3rd, three days before the january attack. he said, when i came in in, the president in the oval office has a guy sitting in front of him, jeff clark, who is willing to do it. he said it was a wide-ranging discussion about the justice department. the question was whether he should remove jeffrey rosen and put in jeff clark. there was some discussion about the letter to georgia. at that point it was difficult to separate the issue of the letter, and jeff clark being in the leadership position because it was very clear. he stated it repeatedly that if president trump made jeff clark the acting attorney general, jeff clark would send that letter on behalf of the justice department. so it wasn't a third option where he would

cnn has learned that your committee did hear from the former acting attorney general, jeffrey rosen, during the final days of the trump administration. he had testified he appeared in person for what, about eight hours yesterday. was he able to elaborate on what we learned? have you been able to elaborate on what we learned from the senate judiciary report that trump pressured him, pressured him, to try to quote, overturn the election? is that what you heard from rosen? >> well, that was some of the information. the senate's report as you know, we have in its entirety, basically said just that. the eight hours of testimony yesterday, more or less elevated what the senate report said. so the investigators on our staff pursued any and all questionings and they feel very solid that the information we have, both from the witness and the senate hearing is solid. >> that's significant what we just learned from rosen. from what rosen told you yesterday during his eight hours of questioning. i assume am some point, mr. chairman, we'll get a transcript of that? is that right? >> oh, absolutel

we are told on wednesday the committee met with jeffrey rosen. he, of course, the former acting attorney general, and they have also issued a subpoena for another high-level department of justice official, jeffrey clark. clark's role in all this is interesting. he, of course, was one of the main trump allies within the department of justice who was pushing for the d.o.j. to use the power of that office to try and investigate election fraud, even though there was no evidence of election fraud to be had. and clark even went so far as to reach out to some states to try and convince them to investigate fraud as well. rosen, of course, the attorney general at the time that clark was pushing a lot of this, rosen turned down clark's entries to try and make that happen. as did richard donohue, deputy attorney general, who has talked with the january 6 select committee. this promises to be a busy couple of days on capitol hill for the january 6 select committee, and we'll see just how serious they are about taking that step of criminal contempt in the days

jeffrey rosen, eight hours of testimony yesterday. must have had a lot to talk about. it was behind closed doors, we don't know what happened. we expect that that testimony will eventually be shown to the public. and no, i'm not going to read all eight hours of it on the air when we finally get the transcript, but you better believe i will find the good stuff, when we finally get it. so like i said, we've got eyes on all those developing stories tonight. but there's been a whole different kind of drama and momentum today when it comes to covid. a whole but any things are happening now all at once on covid. first of all, and most importantly, of course, we've still got a huge proportion of our population that is unvaccinated, that is driving crushing numbers of very sick covid patients that are still overwhelming hospitals in multiple states. you're hearing about how nationally the numbers are starting to come down from our most recent peak, and that is a good piece of news nationwide. but look at the headlines just today. out of all these different states, wyoming, uta

and there it is, attorney general jeffrey rosen sitting across from the president. not all coups, have an official photographer. but the failed coup, run by donald trump in the oval office, was photographed. one witness to refused to cooperate with the committee is jeffrey clark. who donald trump wanted to install as the acting attorney general, because clark had written a, letter to be sent to government officials in certain swing states, like georgia. michigan. and others. saying that the justice department believed, that there were problems in the presidential election. in those state. in the republican office holders in the state should appoint a different set of electors, to vote in the electoral college for donald trump instead of joe, biden who won those states. in the january 3rd meeting of the oval office, where this was discussed for three hours, donald trump learned, that he would face mass resignations if he fired jeff rosen, and made geoff clark the acting attorney general. the senate judiciary committees democratic staff reports says, at some point dur

and there is attorney general jeffrey rosen sitting across from the president. not all coups have an official photographer, but the failed coup run by donald trump in the oval office was photographed. one witness who refused to cooperate with the committee is jeffrey clark, with who donald trump wanted to install as the acting attorney general because clark had written a letter to be sent to government officials in certain swing states like georgia, michigan and others saying that the justice department believed that there were problems in the special election in those states and that republican office holders in those states should appoint a different set of electors to vote in the electoral college for donald trump and joe biden who won those states. and the meeting in the oval office where this was discussed for three hours donald trump learned he'd face mass resignations if he fired jeff rosen and made jeff clark the acting attorney general. the senate judiciary committee's democratic staff report says at some point during the meeting deputy attorney general

i mean, jeffrey rosen is immensely important because he's the one who said to donald trump one way orant me to do. i am not going to try and fix this election. i am not going to come out and say there's election fraud when we did an investigation and we did not find any. and as for mr. clark, you ehave to talk to him because he was in that meeting, that now infamous meeting in the oval office in which he was trying to push all kinds of ways that you could say, well, this election was rigged, et cetera, et cetera. and, you know, i think you have to talk to him as well, and i think that rosen can give you the story about what was going on inside the justice department when you had a president of the united states who was trying to put such immense pressure on the department to say something it did not believe to be true. >> charlie, it's interesting to hear what the select committee is doing about january 6th. and obviously they're trying to figure out what donald trump's role in it was and how to stop something like that. but i think that it is equally important for us to focus on what

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 ha

one of the people he was trying to convince was the then-acting attorney general, jeffrey rosen. rosen, of course, rebuffed those claims. would not act on them. interestingly enough, anderson, we learned today that rosen voluntarily cooperated with the committee today. he was interviewed for more than eight hours behind closed doors. a sign that he is giving them the information they're looking for. >> in terms of the subpoena deadlines for other trump aides this week, where do things stand? >> well right now, everything's up in the air because the committee just does not know what to expect in terms of the level of cooperation that they'll get with this round of private depositions scheduled to take place tomorrow and friday. but the committee's made it clear. if any of these four individuals does not comply, they are ready to take the step of criminal contempt. and that could come quickly, perhaps even as soon as tomorrow night if someone like steve bannon, for instance, does not show up or just outright defies their request. now, each one of these four individuals is either no

so jeffrey rosen has already offered hours of testimony to the senate judiciary committee and is alsony already about these individuals and jeffrey clark is sort of the clutter within doj. i wonder if you can speak to his importance as a witness, david jolly. >> yeah, this is critically important and i think any issues of privilege will get litigated and likely will go against the witnesses who are trying to claim privilege or at least exert trump's brif ledge. this tells me the 1-6 commission is dialing in. they are circling around the president. this is clearly about what did the president know? when did he know it? what did donald trump's team do to help organize and orchestrate and perhaps even fund the events that led to the attack on the capitol? there's no other way to look at the witness list thus far than to say that the chairman and ranking member and the committee, they're circling the wagons around donald trump. they want to know what donald trump knew and when he knew it. >> a.b., to david's point, the committee writes, select committee's investigation has revealed credib

that's what jeffrey rosen was told. he was acting attorney general. the deputy attorney general was rich donaghue. he explains what it was like to talk to trump about this scream -- about this scheme. out this . it's not good for you, mr. president. this is dramatic stuff. right? the president in the oval office has a guy sitting in front of him, jeff clark, who is willing to do it. hatched the scheme with president trump to do it. he drafted the letter. he has asked for the other official signatures on it and threatened the attorney general. if you don't sign, i will be attorney general and i will sign it. they will tell republicans in the state legislatures where biden won that the justice department is treating the election as a crime scene. they should throw out the election results, take steps to keep trump in office. this guy is willing to do it. trump is very willing to put him in charge of the justice department so he can carry out that plot. what stops is that everybody else in the justice department says they will quit, make a stink, it migh

trump also had an idea of replacing rosen with jeffrey clark.t didn't work and as is the case throughout this attempted coup, a select number of officials with integrity stood up and did not go along with the plan but jeffrey clark by all the evidence that we've seen so far was not one of those people. he was trying to affect the trump's attempt to overturn the results in key states, overturn the results of the election and that's why the select committee wants so much to talk to him. >> elliott, congressman adam schiff is a member of the january 6th select committee. he spoke to wolf earlier today about what they are trying to uncover. here it is. >> i think really the big black box in all of this is what was the president's role? we know some of the things about what the president did certainly in propagating the big lie before that day and what he did at the rally that day but what was going on at the white house? did he know in advance of january 6th who was coming to the rally, the presence of white nationalist groups and propensity for vio

seen one of jeffrey rosen's subordinates testifying before congress because the justice department has already told rosen and clark and other doj officials from this time period that the department is waiving all of the relevant privileges. usually the department blocks its officials from coming up and testifying for matters like this, and they've waived all of them. that's true for jeffrey clark. if he wants to avoid a criminal referral and be charged with criminal contempt of congress, you know, he needs to come up and comply with the subpoena and testify because otherwise he's in blatant contempt of congress. now, to your point, if he wants to take the fifth, of course that's his right. he can do so, but he doesn't have the ability to just blow off the subpoena like he seems to want to do. >> so matt, one of the changes in the 21st century compared to the nixon era is just how breathtakingly slow the courts are, at the district court level, the appeals court level on all of these enforcement issues on congressional subpoenas. what about the justice department will now be tested when

ultimately, he became the choice of the president, donald trump, to replace jeffreytrump, to replace jeffrey rosen meadows putting pressure on the department of justice, jeffrey rosen and others saying you need to initiate investigations of fraud in the elections that president trump lost, state-by-state elections. so what was mark meadows' role here in your investigation? >> you have to recall it was a long tradition between the department of justice and the white house as to contacts made suggesting activity by the department of justice. i think the strongest pillar was established during the watergate era where they saw richard nixon trying to manipulate the white house, the saturday night massacre and all that followed from that. so, they followed standards that basically said there are a limited number of people and number of contacts between the white house and department of justice. i'm sorry to say mr. meadows broke that very basic standard and started pummeling the department of justice, under jeffrey rosen, trying to get them to take actions and investigate things one after the other. it

the committee got cooperation from the former acting attorney general jeffrey rosen who refused repeated trump demands he overturn the election and a subpoena was issued for the doj wanted to replace rosen and that's jeffrey clark. the latest now on the investigation. the question now is if the defiance continues, what does the committee do? >> well, john, they are giving us every indication that they are not going to waste any time and begin the process of filing criminal contempt charges against those that they feel are not complying. the question is who falls into that category of being worthy of a criminal contempt referral at this stage and who are they going to continue to negotiate with? and i think we're going to see that play out through the course of today. of course, this was supposed to be the day that steve bannon, the former trump white house counsellor, a fire brand conservative commentator and a trump booster and big booster of the big lie of the election results and carb patel, the former dod official at the pentagon on the day of january 6th, were supposed to appear bef

he is quoted as saying about acting attorney general jeffrey rosen, quote, one thing we know is you, rosen, aren't going to do anything to overturn the election, closed quote, and then donald trump threatened to bring in this character jeffrey clark, who was willing to do donald trump's corrupt and criminal bidding to try to overturn the election results. real quickly, joy, i don't go anywhere without my big, ugly blue book of federal laws, the united states code. that quote from donald trump precisely violates a federal statute 18 usc 610, coercion of political activities. it's very short. it shall be unlawful for any person to intimidate, threaten, command or coerce or attempt to intimidate, threaten, command or coerce any employee of the federal government to engage in or not engage in political activity. it's a three-year federal felony and what was just published by the senate judiciary committee shows inarguably donald trump committed that crime. all that is left is for the department of justice to step up and indict the crimes we all know donald trump committed. >> and i guess

rosen was the one who stood up and said we're not going for this bogus election fraud stuff. jeffreylark, remember, tried to get doj to send a letter to the state of georgia saying, quote, we have identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple states, including georgia. that is just not true. that's a fraud. that is false. that's why jeffrey clark has been subpoenaed by this committee. one thing i found so notable, in the letter here's what the january 6th committee said. they have credible evidence that you attempted to involve the department of justice in efforts to interrupt the peaceful transfer of power. as a justice department alum, that is alarming and true alarming statement that this high-ranking official trying to interrupt the transfer of power. >> we will know in a few hours what direction this is headed in. >> brianna. >> you're not helping. that is what a lot of americans are thinking. if we don't solve the presidential election fraud of 2020, republicans will not be voting in 22 or 24. it is the single most important thin

i want to ask you about jeffrey rosen. i know have you interviewed him.s an alarm, story he kells e tells, is that a story the american public need to hear on camera at your committee hearing? >> i don't know yet. i will say this, we have learned a lot leading up to january 6th. we have not found out everything that there is to know and w our intent is to find out everything there is to know about what happened leading up to those events, who paid for it, what the intent was, also to make sure we take whatever steps necessary up to and including suggestions for legislation to prevent anything like this from ever happening again. >> look, since you have been so involved with impeachment inquiries, you know how they work. i'm curious. i understand that. everything you have learned so far in this investigation i can't help but think back, imagine if we had the jeffrey rosen testimony in full at the impeachment trial. look, i know some people will say, oh, they still wouldn't have found more than seven votes. okay, it was slightly give i different on the repu

it's our understanding the new year's day, acting attorney jeffrey rosen, provided a different justice

for a time, he wanted to make him acting attorney general in place of jeffrey rosen. rosen got on trump's bad side because he refused to use the justice department to amplify trump's big lie. and we have now learned that the committee spoke with rosen for about eight hours wednesday. i can only imagine what he said. so the committee wants to speak to jeffrey clark. they want him to get in for a deposition october 29th. one person familiar with the talks said the subpoena may make it more likely that clark will actually testify. he could try to refuse here, guys, but he will then almost certainly face contempt proceedings. since people have already testified about him, his options are pretty limited. >> very interesting. so much to develop here. we will keep an eye on it. la laura, thanks. sure. >>> were toer counsel alberto gonzales. thank you so much for being with us. the current attorney general may soon have a key decision to make, merrick garland. if there is a criminal contempt referral, if these guys are 6th to show up, comply with subpoenas and congress there'

we have jeffrey rosen. he ran the doj after bill barr left in december of last year with the statement of how great donald trump was. rosen's deputy, number two, is that guy, a man named richard donoughe. previously served as u.s. attorney for the eastern district of new york. then there's a third character. his name is jeffrey clark. a lesser known official in the department and he went full insurrectionist and plotted with trump to use the department of justice to full meant trump's coup even if that meant getting rid of his boss, jeffrey rosen. senate report provides new context and new revelations. it details a meeting on january 3rd in the oval office, in this meeting you've got rosen, right, the guy trying to get justice, deputy and clark was there and pat sipilone and his deputy. trump opened the meeting and i want to read this to you by saying, one thing we know is you, rosen, aren't going to do anything to overturn the election. over the course of the next three hours the group had a wide ranging d

that jeffrey rosen wouldn't -- wouldn't be smart. if you try to do that, we're going to resign. all the assistant -- all the assistant attorneys general will resign. many federal prosecutors around the country will resign and according to the senate report pat cipollone said i will resign and so will my deputy. the president finally backed down. >> thanks to all of you. appreciate it. >>> staying on the hill because at any moment we could learn a little bit more about when this senate vote might happen that would prevent the u.s. economy from dipping into a major recession. we've learned new details about the deal on the debt limit struck by senate leaders chuck schumer and mitch mcconnell. here's what we know, the nationo borrowing limit will be raised to $4800 billion. what's the latest here? do we know if we are getting a vote today, we have senators rand paul and ted cruz who are saying, well, wait a second, let's slow this thing down. >> yeah. they are saying let's slow this thing down, and what it means is that we have the what

rosen were on the outs though. the former president wanted to replace him with jeffrey clark, who was the acting head of the justice department's civil division. according to the report, trump opened the meeting by saying quote, one thing we know is you, rosen, aren't going to do anything to overturn the election. now the meeting then switched gears to discuss a plan by clark for the doj to intervene in the certification of georgia's election results. you remember that moment. the other doj officials in the room told trump and clark if they resign, or they would resign, if rosen was in fact replaced with clark and that the move might spark mass resignations within the entire justice and the u.s. attorney's offices around the country. the white house attorneys who were also present at the meeting said they'd follow suit. now eventually after hours of discussion, trump finally relented, backing off of the plan that would have thrown our country into a tail spin, but his efforts to overturn the election his way wasn't limited to that one meeting. in fact, there were at least nine other instances where trump contacted

and now we have jeffrey rosen, a deadline of october 29th to appear for deposition testimony as wellocuments. the committee is going to have to make decisions soon on how it intends to enforce the subpoenas and show these hostile witnesses how effective it's going to be. the committee members have said they're leaning toward the idea of a criminal referral, asking the justice to prosecute these individuals until they comply, that could include fines and jail time. some of them at least they want these people to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. they have to make moves soon. they could do it in a block, the committee has to vote on it and the house has to approve it. coulda, woulda, shoulda, so far have not done anything. what's the hold up? >> i think they're trying to be careful -- >> careful about what? hold on. what are they trying to be careful about? they don't want to offend steve bannon? >> they don't want to seem too political, play their hand too early. we're still at the beginning of the subpoenas asking people to appear. so i think they're trying to keep all

even if that required getting rid of his own boss jeffrey rosen.eady 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. over the course of the next few hours, the court had a wide-ranging conversation focusing on whether trump should replace doj leadership, install clark's -- there was a letter of course you want to send to georgia officials, as well as maybe other states. falsely claiming there's doj was aware of election fraud there, and basically inviting those states to reject th

jeffrey rosen and rich donahue refusing to go along with it. cipollone at the white house. saying this is illegal, this is inappropriate. and if you do this, we will resign and there will be mass resignations. something worse than the saturday night massacre. before we go too far, let's remember president trump was impeached were this conduct. where were they then? they didn't share this information at a time where it could have been helpful. it wasn't until they were subpoenaed by the senate until they came forward. yes, they stood firm, but i would have hoped for better out of them. >> what do you make of the threats of resignation? some are saying perhaps it's too much that resignations would have saved the democracy. resignations are simply an act of protest. what would you say needs to be done to shore up our democracy in a way that this situation does not happen again? we are likely to get and perhaps even if it is with trump and perhaps likely to see an authoritarian rise or someone who has those tendencies. what happens if people don't want to resign and institution

jeffrey rosen has already testified on topics around trump's efforts to overturn the election. >> that's right, rosen has been extraordinarily forthcoming about what he knows about the last weeks of the trump administration. it's not clear what new angles the committee will be asking him about. the senate judiciary committee put out a big report just a week ago citing in part some of the information that rosen had shared with them. i expect, though, that the select committee is going to have questions about what exactly happened during that 24-hour window when the attack on the capitol played out. were there calls between the white house and the justice department? what role did the justice department play in efforts to bring in reinforcements to try to secure the capitol building after rioters had taken it over? and does rosen have knowledge of any communications between senior white house officials and other folks who may have had connections to the way that that day unfolded as a whole? i would think those are some questions that will be front of mind for investigators. >> leigh ann,

when you see jeffrey rosen and others, this is a different time.d in impeachment one and two under the trump administration where he encouraged others to not obey lawful subpoenas that of congress. we don't have the same attorney general, thank god. we don't have the same administration who would use the department of justice for its own purposes. i expect a very different set of circumstances with bad actors to try to avoid coming forward and obeying a subpoena but i also expect that chairman benny thompson and his committee in a bipartisan singular voice will say we will hold you in criminal contempt if you fail to compile. >> and just to show you the difference, the white house today issued a second letter today reiterating that they are rejecting donald trump's claim of executive privilege and in this letter from the national archives, the white house counsel says president biden does not upheld the privilege and urgency of a select committee's need and the president instructs you to provide the page 30 days after the notnotification. do you ex

sources say former acting attorney general jeffrey rosen met wednesday with the committee behind closed doors. rosen served as ag leading up to january 6th and resisted the former president's efforts to use the power of the justice department to investigate false claims of election fraud. >> the case has already been made if you look at the polls. it was a rigged election. you look at the different states, the election was totally rigged. >> meanwhile, the committee is taking action to insure another trump associate cooperates. issuing a subpoena to jeffrey clark, a high-level member of the trump justice department who tried to help trump overturn the 2020 election. clark attempted to pressure doj leadership to investigate unfounded claims of election fraud. the committee had been negotiating behind the scenes with clark to get him to work with the committee. but after weeks of resistance, they took the step of a subpoena. writing to clark, quote, the select committee's investigation has revealed credible evidence that you attempted to involve the department of justice in efforts to int

the last thing i'll say about that is that it would have been really nice, jeffrey rosen, if you had opened your mouth and not been a craven coward while trump was being impeached for the coup to tell us what you knew then. >> well, elie, can i ask a follow-up? >> no, i don't take questions. of course. >> how do you really feel? >> it's just -- it's frustrating because as much as this report is damning for the trump administration, ain't nothing going to happen. nobody is going to do anything to stop -- to hold these people accountable for what they did, nor is anybody going to do anything to stop them from doing it again, as you talked about. these subpoenas, the deadline is today. these four trump officials, they're not going to play ball. mark meadows isn't going to suddenly come to the rapture and do the right thing so what is congress going to do? we're going to hold them in contempt. they're not going to care about being held in contempt. are we going to arrest them? no, we probably won't and so they will continue to get away with it. >> emily? >> yeah, i mean i think one thing

in a culmination of trump's pressure campaign, rosen was nearly replaced by trump loyalist jeffrey clark who trump apparently deemed more willing to do his bidding. of course last night, on the same day as rosen's in-person eight-hour testimony clark, too, was slapped with a subpoena by the january 6 committee. quote, the select committee needs to understand all the details about efforts inside the previous administration to delay the certification of the 2020 election and amplify misinformation about the election results. we need to understand mr. clark's role in these efforts at the justice department and learn who was involved across the administration. and that is where we start today with some of our most favorite reporters and friends. matt miller is back. also joining us, congresswoman stacey plaskett. she represent sense the u.s. virgin islands and served as a house impeachment manager during donald trump's second impeachment trial. and john heilemann is here host and executive producer of showtime's "the circus". welcome all. congresswoman, i start with you. your reaction to the

former president hatched a plan to replace rosen with his own toadie, justice department attorney and blob of silly putty pressed up against the face of a man, jeffrey clark. rosen told the former president that the justice department had investigated the election and found no evidence of fraud. but clark reached a different conclusion, because, as he said, he spent a lot of time reading on the internet. ( laughter ) turns out, and i did not know this, missing ballots are the one weird trick to cure belly fat. ( laughter ) clark told rosen that he convinced the former president to fire rosen so clark could take his place. as acting attorney general. but rosen said, "i don't believe you." so, on january 3, clark and rosen went to the oval office for a meeting. the former president began that meeting with this snide comment: "one thing we know is you, rosen, aren't going to do anything to overturn the election." that was his idea of a negative employee review. ( laughter ) (as boss reviewing) "chad, i've got to say, your quarterly reports are stellar, but i'm not sure if you're a good fit for our company, because you refuse to dismember my enemies." (

trump from the oval office pressured the acting attorney general, jeffrey rosen and others, and discussed replacing rosen with someone who promised to pursue those election lies. mr. trump, the report says, only backed down after rosen, his deputy, even a top white house lawyer all threatened mass resignation. a house committee wants to learn more, but the former president's allies, lester, say they will not cooperate. >> peter, thank you. in just 60 seconds, did bullying play a role in the shooting in texas. what the suspect's family is saying >>> and 18 former nba players indicted in an alleged scheme worth millions >>> breaking news tonight in texas where that 18-year-old student accused of shooting three people in his high school has now been released on bond. this comes as police confirm the identity of the two teens seen in a video fighting before the shooting sam brock has details. >> reporter: tonight timothy simpkins is out on bond a day after police say he perpetrated a school shooting that left a 15-year-old in critical condition >> do you have anything to say? >> reporter: amo

and jeffrey rosen testified before the committee yesterday. >>> a new york city police officer is under arrest, accused of shooting two women involved in a love triangle. one victim was killed. the officer was off-duty when she opened fire at the women, one of whom she was dating. police say the shooter stayed at the scene and confessed. >>> northwest of atlanta, a tour bus on fire. the driver was able to escape. the rest of the bus was empty and no word on what caused the >>> shiing winds is creating problems for crews fighting a wildfire in santa barbara county, california. it is threatening more than 100 homes. highway 101 could be closed for the weekend. >> that's one of the major north-south routes in california. primary and important for commerce. having that shut down for a third-consecutive day is a very big deal. >> conditions could soon get worse. santa ana winds are expected to crank up tomorrow. red flag warnings are posted for all of southern california. >>> with that, let's look at your thursday weather. more rain is expected in oklahoma and texas. the remnants of hurrican

barr left in mid-december, the report says trump turned the screws on acting attorney general jeffrey rosen to do what barr had refused to do. but rosen refused too. he told the senate committee he said to trump the justice department, quote, "can't and won't just flip a switch and change the election." in response, trump asked that doj "just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the republican congressmen." in late december, trump turned to an obscure environmental lawyer at doj named jeffrey clark who promised to do what barr and rosen would not do -- declare, without evidence, that there was widespread voter fraud and to pressure states that joe biden had won to change the results. at a dramatic, three-hour oval office meeting on january 3rd, trump said he wanted to fire rosen and make clark acting attorney general. rosen told the committee trump said to him, quote, "one thing we know is you, rosen, aren't going to do anything to overturn the election." at the meeting, trump was told that every senior doj official other than clark would resign if he went through with

trump weighed firing act attorney general jeffrey rosen and replacing himh a l fraud, allegedly tling n't eveei'm ght, ane ent plan. you'veadt clear you're going too nothing. white house council pat cipollone warned that he and other white house officials would all resign if trump fired rosen, calling it a murder/suicide pact. the former president abandoned the idea. >> this moment was spine-tinglingly, chillingly close to shredding the constitution. >> reporter: republican chuck grassley, who is expected to rally with mr. trump in iowa this weekend, defended the former president. >> he decided not to do it and it was the right decision. >> reporter: mr. trump was not relenting, declaring the real insurrection happened on november 3 raird, the president election, and not on january 6th, and former mike pence is downplaying the violence, even those some rioters wanted to hang him. >> the house committee investigating january 6th has issued new subpoenas, these to organizers of a stop the steal rally that took place here on k capitol grounds on january 6th. we've also learned that faceb

earlier this week the committee questioned trump's former acting attorney general jeffrey rosen for eight hours. >> nobody is off-limits to a subpoena from this committee. >> reporter: meanwhile in virginia, a republican candidate for governor is distancing himself from this event where his supporters pledged allegiance to a flag that is said to have been flown at a january 6th rally before the riot. >> she's carrying an american flag that was carried at the peaceful rally with donald j. trump on january 6th. >> reporter: the candidate, glenn youngkin, says he had no role in the rally and didn't even attend. > the whole idea of the flag thing seems kind of weird to me and is wrong, but i don't know enough about it yet but it does seem weird and wrong. >> as for bannon, if charges against him move forward, it will likely delay the committee's investigation into the riot. a contempt charge could carry a one-year prison sentence. >>> the most restrictive abortion law in the country has survived yet another legal challenge. a federal appeals court has rejected the justice department's latest

officials told lawmakers trump tried to replace acting attorney general jeffrey rosen because rosen refused to say the election was corrupt. trump backed down after several administration officials threatened to quit. >>> meanwhile, trump is reportedly telling his former aides to defy subpoenas from the house committee investigating january's attack on the capitol. lawmakers have asked former chief of staff mark meadows, ex-adviser steve bannon and others for documents. trump plans to invoke executive privilege. >>> the nobel peace prize is being awarded this morning and the winners are two journalists from the philippines and russia. they're both being honored for helping safeguard freedom of speech including running the only opposition newspaper in russia. the judges saying democracy is under threat around the world making the work of these journalists even more important. >>> at least four deaths are now blamed on flash flooding in alabama, and they include a 4-year-old girl. more than a foot of rain fell in some areas of the state turning streets into rivers and washing away cars. more

on wednesday, former attorney general jeffrey rosen set for an 8 our interview with the committee. >>il spill in southern california. it was indeed bad, but not as bad as first feared. the coast guard says the offshore pipeline leaked about 25,000 gallons, a fifth of the initial estimates, and the figure appears to be supported by reports from workers cleaning up the beaches. >>> on by your watch, later went helping crews battle the fire near santa barbara. flames have burned nearly 17,000 acres in the mountains. they also forced to shut down the parts of highway 101 that connects santa barbara to the central coast. the fire, only 5% contained. the thick heavy spoke spreading better towards los angeles. >>> the water level at lake tahoe has dipped to a 4 year low, and people are taking notice. >>> it does seem like it is a bit lower than normal. mac people walking along north tahoe beach noticed there's a lot more beach to walk on today. the boat docks don't even reach the water leading to nowhere right now, and this boat certainly isn't floating in the lake anymore. joseph and jessic