While Mr. Rosen and Mr. Clark argued during the meeting over which man should head the Justice Department and whether the Department should intervene in Georgia, Mr. Trump intervened with complaints about the Department’s official conclusion that the results of the state elections were valid, according to three people inquired about the meeting. Mr. Trump ultimately decided not to elevate Mr. Clark, and the department did not send a letter to Georgia officials to undermine Mr. Biden’s victory.
Immediately after the Sunday night meeting in the Oval Office, Justice Department official Richard P. Donoghue sent an email to Mr. Pak which read, “Please call as soon as possible,” according to documents the House Oversight and Reform Committee obtained from the Justice Department and released in June.
Trump’s bid to undermine the election
During that phone call, Mr. Donoghue said Mr. Trump remained fixated on the false notion that he had won Georgia, and said the president was angry that Mr. Pak did not support that conclusion, according to a person familiar with the phone call.
Early the next morning, Mr. Pak sent Mr. Donoghue resignation letters addressed to Mr. Trump and Mr. Rosen, in effect immediately.
Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat and member of the Judiciary Committee, said on Wednesday that Mr. Pak “answered all questions in a seemingly honest and candid manner, and I have the impression that he believes in the rule of law and that he stood up for it.” .”
Mr. Blumenthal and Senator Jon Ossoff, Democrat of Georgia, were among a handful of committee members who listened to all of Mr. Pak’s testimony.
While the panel’s investigation is ongoing, it has completed its first set of interviews. Among them were Mr. Pak, Mr. Donoghue and Mr. Rosen, who spoke with the commission for nearly seven hours and with the Justice Department Inspector General for about two hours.
Mr Clark has not said whether he will come for an interview and the committee has not indicated who else it would like to speak with. The Justice Department has said it will not invoke administrative law if former officials are asked to testify before congressional investigators.
