mr. rosen, the acting attorney general, with a lawyer who he believed would inappropriately put the full weight of the justice department behind the effort to overturn the election. let's think about what that means. wherever you live in the united states, there's probably a local government is that cute of, a mayor or a county commissioner there's also an official responsible for enforcing the laws, it district attorney, or a local prosecutor. imagine if your mayor lost a reelection bid but instead of conceding the race they picked up the phone, called a district attorney, and said, i want you to say this election was stolen. i want you to tell the board of elections not to certify the results. that's essentially what donald trump was trying to do, with the election for president of the united states. it was a brazen attempt to use the justice department to advance the presidents personal political agenda. today, my colleague from illinois, mr. kinzinger, and other witnesses, will walk through

mr. rosen, after mr. barr announced his resignation, did donald trump continue to demand that the department of justice investigate his claims of election fraud? >> yes, he asserted that he thought the justice department had not done enough. >> thank you. from the time you took over for attorney general barr until january 3rd, how often did president trump contact you or the department, to push allegations of election fraud? >> between december 23rd in january 3rd the president either called me or met with me virtually every day, with one or two exceptions, like christmas day before the, because it had been announced that i would be the acting attorney general before the date but i did, the president had asked, rich donahue and i go over and meet with him, i believe on december 15th, as well. after we had some of these meetings and conversations with the president, what things did the president raise with you. >> so the common element to all of this was the president expressing his dissatisfaction that th

mr. rosen just discussed? >> it is critical that they conduct their investigations free from either the reality or any proposed political interference. people can get in trouble if people in the white house are speaking with people within the department. that is why the purpose of these policies is to keep these communications as in frequent, and at the highest levels, as possible. just to make sure that people who might be less careful about it, who may not understand these implications, such as mister clerk, do not run afoul of those content policies. >> thank you. the select committee conducted an informal interview with the white house counsel pat sub lonely and his deputy pat film in. and yet has agreed to sit for transcribed or videotaped interviews. but -- they intervened when he heard that mr. clark was meeting with the president without his knowledge, which was strictly against white house policy. mr. philbin, like mr. rosen, told mr. clark to stand down, and he did not. on the same da

mr. rosen, mr. donoghue, mr. engel, and others. the president became desperate, entering the new year, with january 6th fast approaching. he rushed back from mar-a-lago on january 1st, and called a emergency meeting with the departments leadership. here is mr. donoghue describing the last minute -- >> the president was a little more agitated than he had been in the meeting on the 15th. he discussed a variety of election matters. he did say, this sounds like the kind of thing that would want the appointment of special counsel. there was a point at which the president said something about one of you guys seized machines. >> mr. rosen, the president asked you to seize voting machines from state governments. what was your response to that request? >> that we had seen nothing improper with regard to the voting machines and i told him that the real experts of that had been a dhs and they had briefed us that they had looked at it and that there was nothing wrong with the voting machines. and so, that

mr. rosen, after mr. barr announced his resignation, did donald trump continue to demand that the department of justice investigate his claims of election fraud? >> yes. he asserted that he thought the justice department had not done enough. >> thank you. from the time you took over from attorney general barr until january 3, how often did president trump contact you or the department to push allegations of election fraud? >> so between december 23 and january 3, the president either called me or met with me virtually every day with one or two exceptions like christmas day. before that because it had been announced that i would become the acting attorney general before the date i did, the president had asked that rich donoghue and i go over and meet with him, i believe, december 15 as well. >> so after you had some of these meetings and conversations with the president, what things did the president raise with you? >> so the common element of all of this was the president expressing his dissatisfaction at

if mr. rosen were removed from the seat and the president did not immediately appoint someone to serve as attorney general by the function of the department's chain of succession, mr. engle would be in the seat. we wanted him to know what was going on. the three of us knew. we brought pat in. no one else aside from jeff clark, of course, knew what was going on until late that sunday afternoon. we chose to keep it close-holed because we didn't want to create concern or panic in the justice department leadership. at this point i asked the acting a.g. what else can i do to help prepare for this meeting at the oval office. he said you and pat should get the aags on the phone. it's time to let them know what's going on. let's find out what they may do if there's a change in leadership. that will help in form the conversation at the oval office. pat set up that meeting. we got most of the ags on the phone. very quickly explained to them what the situation was. i told them i don't need an answer for you

mr. rosen, after mr. barr announced his resignations, did donald trump continue to demand that the department of justice continue t nvaimsf election fraud? >> yes, he -- he, uh, asserted that he thought the justice department had not done enough. >> thank you. from the time you t over from attorney general barr, until january 3, how often did president trump contact you or the department to push allegations of election fraud? >> so between december 23 and january 3, the president either called me or met with me virtually every day, with one or two exceptions, like christmas day. and before that, because it had been announced i would become the acting attorney general the day before i actually did, the president had asked that rich dodonohue and i meet with him on september 15 as well. >> you had the meetings with the president, what things did the president raise with you? >> so the common element of all of this was the president expressing his dissatisfaction that the justice department, in his view, had

philbin, like mr. rosen, told mr. clark to stand down and he didn't. e same day acting attorney general rosen told mr. clark to stop talking to the white house, representative perry was urging chief of staff mark meadows to elevate clark within the department of justice. you can now see on the screen behind me a series of s between -- texts between representative perry and mr. meadows. they show that representative perry requested that mr. clark be elevated within the department. representative perry tells mr. meadows on december 26 that "mark, just checking in as time continues to count down. 11 days to january 6 and 25 days to inauguration. we've got to get going." representative perry followed up and says, "mark, you should call jeff. i just got off the phone with him and he explained to me why the principal deputy won't work, especially with the fbi. they will view it as not having the authority to enforce what needs to be done." mr. meadows responds with, "i got it. i think i understand. let me work on the deputy position." representative perry the

mr. rosen, mr. donoghue stayed steadfastly committed to the oath they take as officials in the department of justice. on january 6th itself, they assisted during the attack while our commander in chief stayed silent. their bravery is a high moment in the sordid story of what led to january 6th. my colleagues and i up here also take an oath. some of them failed to uphold theirs, and instead, chose to spread the big lie. days after the tragic events of january 6th, some of these same republican members requested pardons in the waning days of the trump administration. five days after the attack on the capitol, representative mo brooks sent the email on the screen now. as you see, he emailed the white house, "pursuant to a request from matt gaetz, requesting a pardon for representative gaetz, himself and unnamed others." witnesses told the select committee that the president considered offering presidents to a wide range of individuals connected to the president. let's listen to some of that testimony.

mr. rosen, mr.y understood that their oath was to the constitution and not to the personal or political interests of the president. the president, and his allies, became aware with legal challenges exhausted and electoral votes certified, their only hope would be a last- ditch scheme to prevent congress from certifying the win is throwing the entire system into constitutional chaos. the present one that the department to sow doubt in the legitimacy of the election. to empower his followers and members of congress to take action. if the department could lend its credibility to the conspiracies, people would have the justification they needed to spread the big lie. so president trump one of the department of justice to say the election was "corrupt and leave the rest to me and the republican congressman". as you will hear today, the department's top leadership refuse. not surprisingly, president trump didn't take no for an answer. he didn't accept it from attorney general barr and he wouldn't accept i

clark emailed you and mr. rosen, in the draft letter he wanted you to sign, and sin to georgia state officials. you testified that this could have, a quote, grave constitutional consequences. mr. donoghue, can you tell us what you meant by that? >> i had to read both the email and the attached letter twice to make sure i really understood what he was proposing. because it was so extreme to me, i had my hard time getting my head around it initially. but i read it and i did understand, it for what he intended. and i had to sit down and sort of composed but i thought was an appropriate response. i thought it was very important to give a prompt response rejecting this out of hand. there were, in my response, i explain a number of reasons, this is not the departments role, to suggest we're dictate to state legislatures how they should select their electors. but more importantly, this was not based on fact. this was actually contrary to the facts, as developed by department investigations over the last several weeks and m

meadows to you, mr. rosento send jeff clark to fulton county -- what did you do with this request? >> well, really nothing. certainly didn't send mr. clark to fulton county. but that email was the first corroboration i had seen of -- mr. clark had told me at that point, that the president was considering making the change by monday, january 4th. so, mr. meadows email with something of a corroboration, that the discussions going on had i had not been informed about from mr. clocked by anybody else. >> i tuesday's hearing, we learned that mark meadows traveled to georgia on december 22nd, 2020. showing up at a signature audit site, where he met secretary raffensperger's chief investigator, francis watson, who was supervising that audit process and then donald trump called francis watson and tried to influence her. joining us now is stacey abrams, democratic nominee from for governor of georgia. thank you very much for joining us tonight. georgia, your state, essential to this investigation, with donald trump thi

mr. rosen and that every day, from bill barr's departure on, he continued in that pattern of investigating these baseless allegations. >> donoghue himself talks about how he took one of these crazy allegations against around pennsylvania fielded out to the western district attorney of pennsylvania. go chase this out. they were using justice department resources to. -- >> and that's crazy. they were lying. but trump was going to burn it down -- the day after [inaudible] called. the day after their testimony, the sunday after the saturday raffensperger called. the tape leak sunday but it happened the night before. so, trump's last play here is to get jeff clarke to send the letter -- that's with this is about. the letter to georgia, about declaring that states vote fraudulent. ? and so, it really reveals what the intent was. and it was to have the letter sent out declaring -- it pulls trump into the eastman plot. and it makes the doj coup attempt all part of that fake electors plot. >> pulling tr

mr. rosen, after mr.rtment of justice investigate his claims of election fraud? >> yes. he asserted that he thought the justice department had not done enough. >> thank you. from the time you took over from attorney general barr, until january 3rd, how often did president trump contact you or the department to push allegations of election fraud? >> so between december 23rd and january 3rd, the president either called me or met with me virtually every day, with one or two exceptions, like christmas day. and before that, because i had been announced that i would become the acting attorney general before the day i actually did, the president had asked that our rich donoghue and i go over and meet with him, i believe, on december 15th as well. >> so after you had some of these meetings and conversations with the president, what things did the president raise with you? >> so, the common element of all of this was the president expressing his dissatisfaction that the justice department, in his view, had not don

you also noted that mr. rosen said to mr. can't and won't snap its fingers and change the outcome of the election. how did the president respond to that, sir? >> he responded very quickly, and said, essentially, that's not what i'm asking you to do. what i'm just asking you to do is just say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the republican congressmen. >> all right. testimony from yesterday's january 6th committee. detailing donald trump's effort to get the justice department to ail firm his false election claims. welcome back to "morning joe." it is friday, june 24th, and with us, we have host and executive producer of the circus on show time, msnbc national affairs analyst john heilemann, and political columnist at the conservative web site, the bulwark, amanda carpenter joins us this morning. good to have you both with us . >> as we said at the top of the last hour, really extraordinary compelling evidence yesterday. i'm not exactly sure what i was expecting from the january 6th committee or what most americans w

engel and mr. rosen and mr. donoghue said today.roud of the department of justice they help lead. this may sound corny to some of your viewers. but that's what you are supposed to do. you are supposed to do the right thing, even when it is hard. they did that, good for them. but that is the job. but had they not intervened, had there been weaker people, had there been spineless people in their seats rather than them, chaos, stephanie. because it would have given the imprimatur of the department of justice to anybody in georgia who wanted to submit a false slate of electors or who wanted to claim that even the justice department believed that the election in georgia and elsewhere was fraudulent. so, a very important moment, when that we should not overlook. and i'm very glad that smart people -- courageous people -- did the right thing. again, that's the job. that is what you were supposed to do, even when it is hard. >> where they able to do the right thing, luke, by appealing to trump's narcissism? they stopped him, not because the

. >>> you also noted that mr. rosen said to mr. trump, quote, d.o.j. can't and won't snap its fingers an change the outcome of the election. how did the president respond to that, sir? >> he responded very quickly and said essentially that's not what i'm asking you to do, what i'm asking you to do is say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the republican congress. >> that's the key line into the yesterday hearing from the capitol attack, called quote the smoking gun from one top criminal lawyer and said it speaks to trump's criminal intent. more on that. >>> and the supreme court on guns and with the supreme court going one way and congress going the other and we will tell you what it means for gun safety in america. >>> and breaking news overnight from ukraine, after weeks of fighting, the ukraine officials say the forces have to withdraw from a key battleground in the east. we'll have the latest. >>> all right. good morning. and welcome to "way too early." on this friday, june 24th. i'm sam, in for jonathan lemire. hearing number five into th

you also noted that mr. rosen said to mr. trump, quote, doj can't and won't snap its fingers and change the outcome of the election. how did the president respond to that, sir? >> he responded very quickly and said, essentially, that's not what i'm asking you to do. what i'm asking you to do is just say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the republican congressmen. >> i made the point that jeff clark is not even competent to serve as the attorney general. he's never been a criminal attorney. he's never conducted a criminal investigation in his life. he's never been in front of a trial jury. and he kind of retorted by saying, well, i've done a lot of very complicated appeals and civil litigation, environmental litigation and things like that, and i said, that's right, you're an environmental lawyer, how about you go back to your office and we'll call you when there is an oil spill? >> when he finished discussing what he planned on doing, i said, good [ bleep ] -- sorry, congratulations, you just admitted first step or

you also noted that mr. rosen said to mr. trump, quote, doj can't and won't snap its fingers and change the outcome of the election. how did the president respond to that, sir? >> he was responded we quickly and said essentially that's not what i'm asking to you do. what i'm just asking you to do is just say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the republican congressmen. >> joining me now former federal prosecutor daniel goldman, lead counsel on former president trump's first impeachment and is now running for congress in new york. also jeffrey toobin. i want to stipulate that both of you just seconds ago told me you did not even think this hearing as big as it was was the most significant development yesterday. i will get to what you think is bigger in just a moment. but, jeffrey, you do think -- you agree with trump administration officials who say this was the most damaging hearing yet. why? >> because you had the president himself repeatedly going to his justice department team and not asking for the votes to be c

the justice department were being _ for the justice department were being rebuffed by mr donoghue, mr rosenra largo on december 31st and _ back from mara largo on december 31st and called an emergency meeting with the _ 31st and called an emergency meeting with the leadership. —— january sixth — with the leadership. -- january sixth. . . with the leadership. -- january sixth. , , ., , ., sixth. the president was a little more agitated _ sixth. the president was a little more agitated than _ sixth. the president was a little more agitated than he - sixth. the president was a little more agitated than he had - sixth. the president was a little | more agitated than he had been sixth. the president was a little i more agitated than he had been in the meeting — more agitated than he had been in the meeting on— more agitated than he had been in the meeting on the _ more agitated than he had been in the meeting on the 15th. _ more agitated than he had been in the meeting on the 15th. he - the meeting on the 15th. he discussed _ the meeting on the 15th. he discussed a _ the meeting on the 15th. he

donohue and mr. rosenthe audio, and it was a decision they made after they commenced and seeing and luke's point is a good one and almost comical. i'm sure people like jason miller thought i'll go in there with my maga hat on, did trump know? yes. how did he know? i told him. at some point the maga posture falls apart completely. i wonder if you think the same could potentially happen with mr. cipollone's resistance to toughering. i want to show you what liz cheney had to say about that yesterday. >> donald trump does not want mr. cipollone to testify here. indeed, our evidence shows that mr. cipollone and his office tried to do what was right. they tried to stop a number of president trump's plans for january 6th today and come the coming hearings you will hear testimony from other trump white house staff explaining what mr. cipollone said and did including on january 6th. we think the american people deserve to hear from mr. cipollone personally. he should appear before this committee and we are working

fillben like mr. rosen told mr. clark to stand down and he didn't. >> so j, john, cipollone knows lot. he was in the room for multiple conversations. what specific questions does he need to answer? >> that's a devastating take on all the questions that he needs to be asked and asked what he recommended, why he recommended it, was he involved it in any way? did he declare publicly somehow he didn't want any part of this? how did he tell people to stay out of it? who all did he tell? i mean it just goes on. he is is a central witness since cassidy has testified. and others obviously hinted earlier of his central role. so i just can't understand why he doesn't want to get this off himself unless, indeed, don, he is involved. and then he's not going to be able to hide behind the privilege. >> ryan, the select committee says more and more evidence is coming into their investigation. you know they've got this hot line, et cetera. what are you learning? >> well, we know they held a deposition today, don. they were behind c

. >> you also noted that mr. rosen said to mr. trump, quote, doj can't and won't snap its fingers and change the outcome of the election. how did the president respond to that, sir? >> he responded very quickly and said essentially that's not what i'm asking you do. what i'm asking you to do is just say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the republican congressmen. >> the committee revealed notes from the justice department officials documenting their calls with trump. and you can see it here, just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the republican congressmen. multiple sources tell cnn trump's allies acknowledged thursday's testimony causes damaging and bleak. another note revealing whether the former president was getting his conspiracy theories. >> he told mr. donoghue in that december 27th call, quote, you guys may not be following the internet the way i do. >> we are also learning that several congressional republicans were pushing these internet conspiracy theories trying to overturn the electi

. >> you also noted that mr. rosen said to mr. its fingers and change the outcome of the election. how did the president respond to that, sir? he responded very quickly >> he said, essentially, that's not what i'm asking you to do. i'm just asking you to do to say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the republican congress. >> say it was corrupt, and leave the rest to me and a republican congressman. charles, how critical was this moment in the testimony -- how critical was this? >> simone, it was quite significant because [inaudible] when people viewed the legal field were viewed as arbiters of truth. we're viewed as people who are supposed to play on the field of right. when you look to the doj, when you look to the attorney general to validate something you know is not true, when you're attempting to do is lean into a lie and use the cloak of justice, that cloak that i just described, never write, or a truth to paint this lie to the american public. but they were going to do, but they were looking to have happened was t

. >> mr. rosen, it was you he was going to replace. what was your view about the president's plan to appoint mr. clark? >> well, as i lewded to earlier, the issue wasn't about me. it was -- it would have been fine, as i said, to have rich donoghue replace me. >> welcome to "the five." the january 6th hearings continuing on capitol. we'll monitor it for breaking news. you can watch it on foxnews.com/stream. the supreme court with a ruling that will rock blue states from coast to coast. the nation's highest court tossing out new york state's restrictive regulations on conceal permits, and saying american have a legal right to carry firearms in public. the bombshell ruling could spread to other blue states like california. the white house said new york leaders furious and lashing out. >> today the supreme court is sending us backwards in our efforts to protect families and prevent gun violence. shocking. absolutely shocking. i'm sorry this dark day has. >> this decision has made every single one of us less safe from gun violence. we cannot

and save at trelegy.com. >>> you also noted that mr. rosen said to mr.an't and went to snap his fingers and change the outcome of the election. how does the president respond to that, sir? >> he responded very quickly and said, essentially, that's not what i'm asking you to do. what i'm asking you to do is say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the republican congress. >> back with betsy woodruff swan, and matthew miller. let me play the members of congress, going in between donald trump and the doj of the time. >> calling on attorney general barr to immediately let us know what he is doing. >> we are working on challenging the certified electors. and tell me about the courts. how pathetic are the courts? >> democracy is left undefended if we accept the results of a stolen election, without fighting with every bit of vigor we can muster. >> today is the day american patriots start taking down names, and kicking ass. >> they can say whatever they want to push the justice department around and bully them. in your imagination, what might they have

. >> you also noted that mr. rosen said to mr. trump, quote, d.o.j.nap its fingers and change the outcome of the election. how did the president respond to that, sir? >> he responded very quickly and said, essentially, that's not what i'm asking you to do. what i'm just asking you to do is just say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the republican congressmen. >> reporter: instead jeffrey clark, an environmental lawyer at d.o.j. with no experience in elections, wrote a draft letter that he intended to send to battle ground states trump lost, saying the department had identified significant concerns that may impact the outcome o onat w false.efhe january 6th attack on the capitol, a tense hours long oval office meeting took place where trump threatened to replace rosen with clark. >> toward the end of the meeting, the president again was getting very agitated and he said, people tell me i should just get rid of both of you. i should just remove you and make a change in leadership, put jeff clark in, maybe something will finally get done. >> re

you also noted that mr. rosen said to mr. trump, quote, doj compla comp can't and won't snap its fingers and change the election. how did the president respond to that? >> he responded very quickly and said essentially that's not what i'm asking you do, what i'm asking you do is just say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the republican congressmen. >> michael, do you agree with dave that that speaks to the former president's intent here? >> absolutely. and i also would add to that that on the january 3 meeting in the white house, rosen and trump were having a conversation and trump says to rosen, you are not going to do anything about this, are you? you're not going to send this proof of concept letter that clark drafted this fraudulent letter about fraud in georgia. and he said i'm absolutely not going to do anything about it. and he said i can't do anything about it, it is unconstitutional, it is illegal, and in the aftermath of that, trump still moved forward in an effort to get this false letter out there. so to

you also noted that mr. rosen said to mr. trump, quote, doj can't and won't snap its fingers and change the outcome of the election. how did the president respond to that, sir? >> he was responded very quickly and said essentially, that's not what i'm asking you to do. what i'm just asking you to do is just say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the republican congressmen. >> so let's now put up the notes where you quote the president. as you're speaking to that, you said the president said, just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the republican congressmen. so, mr. donoghue, that's a direct quote from president trump, correct? >> that's an exact quote from the president, yes. >> perhaps the most dramatic moment of the testimony was what donoghue later said about a december 2020 white house meeting where he tried to explain to donald trump in great detail what would happen if trump removed then acting attorney general jeffrey rosen and tried to install jeffrey clark as attorney general to push

you also noted that mr. rosen center mr.rump, doj cannot and will not snap his fingers and changed the outcome of the election. how did the president respond? >> he responded very quickly and essentially said that is not what i am asking you to do. i am asking you to say it was corrupt and leave the rest of me and the republican congressmen "washington journal >> he said the president said just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the republican congressmen. that is a direct quote from president trump, correct? >> that is a direct quote, yes. >> the next note shows the president kept pressing. the president keep saying the department was obligated to tell people this was an illegal, corrupt election. >> that is also an exact quote from the president, yes. >> did the department find any evidence to conclude there was anything illegal or corrupt about the 2020 election? >> there were isolated incidents of fraud, nothing came close to calling into question the outcome of the election in any individual state

. >> mr. rosen christmas eve, your first official day as acting attorney general, president trump called you. what did he want to talk about? >> the same things he was talking about publicly. >> stephen: so, low-flow toilets and windmill cancer? no? ( laughter ) keep in mind, this was on december 24th. what a lovely way to spend christmas eve: "'twas the night before christmas and all through d.c. the potus was screaming 'the winner was me!' the conspiracies hung like a stench in the air as thin and as fake as the president's hair." ( cheers and applause ) the former president was persistent, as kinzinger explained: >> in the weeks leading to january 6, the department of justice was fielding almost-daily requests from the president to investigate claims of election fraud. each claim was refuted and time again, an effort attorney general barr described as "whack-a-mole." >> stephen: and when that whack-a-mole didn't work they would eventually go on to "whack mike pence." ( audience reacts ) >> stephe

. >> you also noted mr. rosen said to mr. trump, quote, doj can't and won't snap its fingers and change the election. how did the president respond to that, sir? >> he responded very quickly and said, essentially, that's not what i'm asking to you do. what i'm asking you to do is say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the republican congressman. >> it wasn't paraphrasing, okay. let me show you the hand-written note that donohue took, that he wrote, on the day of the call. just say that the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the r. congressman. there you have it. multiple sources tonight are telling our kaitlan collins that trump allies acknowledged that testimony today was damaging and bleak and important to note people in trump's orbit downplayed other hearings so far so today, seeing it differently. part of the reason is the witnesses today clearly detailed how trump tried to pressure the justice department to help him hold on to power and again, hear the crucial thing, even after he had been told ag

you also noted that mr. rosen said to mr.nd won't snap its fingers and change the outcome of the election. how did the president respond to that, sir? >> he responded very quickly, and said, essentially, that is not what i am asking you to do. what i am asking you to do is, say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the republican congressman. >> it is astounding that he is saying this to a top doj official. is this criminal behavior? >> to me, that line, just say there was fraud, that is the crux of what you would be looking at if you're thinking of charging obstruction of justice or conspiracy to defraud the united states. by the way, there is no real question in my mind that he said it, richard donoghue is a credible witness who took contemporaneous notes while he is on that phone call. you see his handwritten notes. i didn't have any question that donald trump said that, and that is the whole point. just say it. >> we will do the rest. >> witness after witness testified about trump's ham- fisted approach, attempted t

. >> you also noted that mr. rosen said to mr. trump, quote, doj can't and won't snap its fingers and change the outcome of the election, how did the president respond to that, sir? >> he responded very quickly and said, essentially, that's not what i'm asking you to do, what i'm just asking you to do is just say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the republican congressmen. >> just say it was corrupt. we also learned that when top doj officials refused to back his false election claims, trump wanted to install a little known doj environmental attorney and trump loyalist jeffrey clark as the acting attorney general. just hours before yesterday's hearing, federal agents raided clark's home. we'll have much more on the details of that in a moment. let's begin with cnn political correspondent sara murray. a lot that stood out from yesterday's hearing yesterday, consequential because you have eyewitness accounts of what the president said in those moments. >> absolutely. just the sort of intimate but also blunt assessment we

. >> on the same day acting attorney general rosen told mr.rk to stop talking to the white house, representative perry was urging chief of staff mark meadows to elevate clark with him to the department of justice. you can now see, on the screen behind me, a series of texts between rivers and did of perry, and mr. meadows. we show that representative perry requested that mr. clark be elevated within the department. representative perry tells mr. meadows, on december 26th, that, quote, just checking in as time continues to count down. 11 days to january 6th, and 25 days to inauguration. we have got to get going. >> representative perry follows up and says, quote, mark, you should call jeff. i just got off the phone with him, and he explained to me why the principal deputy won't work, especially with the fbi, they will view it as not having the authority to enforce what needs to be done. mr. meadows responds with, i got it. i think i understand. let me work on the deputy position. represented of perry then text roger, just something sent you some

. >> mr. rosen said to mr. trump, quote, doj can't and won't snap its fingers and change the outcome of the election. how did the president respond to that, sir? >> he responded very quickly and said, essentially, that's not what i'm asking you to do. what i'm just asking you to do was say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the rest of the republican congressmen >> say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the rest of the republican congressmen as january 6th approached, rosen and donoghue testified president trump grew more and more agitated the white house was pushing them to investigate an outlandish conspiracy theory from the internet that italian satellites switched the votes over to biden. rosen and donoghue said president trump wanted a special counsel to investigate, one of his cronies, and wanting to seize machines from states, something they refused to do >> we had seen nothing improper with regard to the voting machines, and i told him that the real experts of that had been at dhs, and

when you get the testimony from mr. rosennd the justice department saying this was crazy, the attorney general and what did donald trump want to do? he wanted to fire them all and put an environmental lawyer in charge of the justice department. the speaker in arizona wouldn't do his bidding. michigan officials wouldn't do his bidding. he couldn't get the pennsylvania people to do his bidding. that is the point they're trying methodically. this is not a president who was venting. this was a president who knew he lost and kept looking for people to help him cheat. >> one of the other things i wonder about this if pat cipollone is making this decision, i don't want to be completely on the outs with republicans, et cetera. liz cheney said this today. we know that he was internal at the white house trying to push back on a lot of this stuff. donald trump has already got him on his enemies list, you know what i mean? that's done. that ship has sailed. donald trump said something negative about ivanka trump the other day when the te