the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: thank you. madam president today the senate judiciary committee released a report after an investigation of the circumstances surrounding donald trump's efforts to take over the justice department during the closing days of the last calendar year and the beginning of this year. since january the committee has investigated reports that white house officials, including the president himself pressed the department of justice to support president trump's unsubstantiated bids to overturn the 2020 election results and that acting civil division assistant a.j. jeffrey clarke aided in that effort. today's interim staff report sheds new light on former

president donald trump's efforts to overturning the 2020 election. election. >> pressuring the colleagues in the department of justice to force in overturn of the 2020 election. let me put this in perspective. the election was in novemberle the results were announced. most of the world accepted it but the former president donald trump never did. he filed a succession of lawsuits to prove election had been stolen. he failed in every effort in court. everyone. that wasat stage i. having failed in court to the most outlandish series imaginable that was considered normal for the likes of rudy giuliani and then in the second phase it was to

convince the department of justice and the attorney general to intervene in the election results and to reach out directly as the president did himself personally to the election officials and stays with you that he should have one but he didn't. so all that effort was underway when william bar president trumps attorney general at the time issued a statement saying there was no evidence of widespread fraud in the election. that was disappointing to the president. in the middle of december of last year william bar, the attorney general announced he would resign as of december 23. the man was choosing as the acting attorney general, jeffrey rosen and at his side deputy attorney general. there was ae full-court press from that moment by president trump and his supporters. 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 showed these videotapes. election officials in georgia counter that by saying those were actual t containers and that was the ordinary process there's nothing sinister going on there.

but state after stay in case after case trump is making the argument that he was cheated on the election which was false but he still believes it to this day. putting the pressure on acting attorney general jeffrey rosen ato be complicit also a special case of the supreme court macross the street to stop the election results from being certified. our report shows that jeffrey rosen and d the deputy resisted this fromom the start. jeffrey clark in the civil division and with this matter on a legal basis. >> and those that can and those that are arguing is no basis of fact or proof of election fraud.

and this is exist double on —- under existing guidelines. and that fateful day when the president called rosen and o'donoghue, clark to the lot on —- white house to pursue the effort to replace rosen with clark. a more complicit person in the process. at that moment two things happen which were significant. white house counsel and then to have that path to engage in this ten seconds at that point the eighth meeting officials in the department of justice all signed a letter to say

they would resign en masse if there was a replacement of the acting attorney general by mr. clark. the president hesitated and decided at the last minute not to pursue that course and not to replace him. that was significant. i will tell i you because otherwise it would've been a possibility. and then with the us attorney inh georgia refused to buy the outlandish claims particularly us attorney. we know what followed and in a matter of three days and then having failed and every court case to take over the department of justice to take

his cause to the street. and then three days later in january 6. now most people say we heard most ofoi the story before so what is the point? we were so close to a constitutional crisis so the american people know that we should never be complacent when it comes to our rights of citizens and responsibilities and constitution. this president former president donald t trump would keep his office and the presidency no doubt in my mind and to think we reach that stage in history is certainly worth reflection for a moment so what more should we do going forward to make certainly protect this democracy from the likes of

donald trump or any successors? that is a major responsibility we face. that reports of the senate judiciary committee

and president trump apparently considers the home and to show his displeasure. third and final president trump expected acting attorney general rosen's position that the department not follow a lawsuit against the state of all disease into the proofs tand then to make much of the effort of individual lawyers to push the department

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row seat to democracy.