On This Day In 2021
Trump & a Justice Dept official contemplate their coup
A frantic dash to the White House. OTDI 2021, senior members of the Justice Department raced to the Oval Office because their colleague Jeffrey Clark was about to pitch Trump on a scheme to overturn the 2020 election. They wanted to stop him before Trump said yes.
“Alternate slate:” Clark proposed a scheme in which Republican legislators in Georgia would flip Trump’s loss by sending a separate “slate” of pro-Trump “electors” to Congress for approval. In exchange for his brilliant plan, Clark asked Trump to fire the acting Attorney General and install him instead on the Cabinet.
Needless to say, Trump was very excited by the idea. The only thing that persuaded him not to back the plot was a warning from others in the department that it would lead to mass resignations from the department—and that might sully Trump’s image as a great leader.
In this case, justice may actually prevail. Clark was later named as an unindicted co-conspirator to Donald Trump in the efforts to overturn the election and keep Trump in power. He was also indicted by a state grand jury in Georgia for Violation of the Georgia RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act and Criminal Attempt To Commit False Statements and Writing.
The Washington Post reports: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/14/inside-explosive-oval-office-confrontation-three-days-before-jan-6/
The New York Times covers the attempted plot: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/22/us/politics/jeffrey-clark-trump-justice-department-election.html
New York magazine weighs in: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/06/trump-coup-attempt-nearly-included-a-saturday-night-massacre.html
The AP covers the Clark naming: https://apnews.com/article/trump-georgia-election-indictment-jeffrey-clark-4c7a2dfaa096033940d617bd2b7f1c88
Trump & a Justice Dept official contemplate their coup.