On the meeting between Trump and top DoJ officials in the oval office:
Richard Donoghue:
The emeting took about another two and a half hours from the time I entered. It was entirely focused on whether there should be a DoJ leadership change. I was sitting directly in front of the president. Jeff Rosen was to my right. Jeff Clark was to my left.
Jeff Rosen:
He (Trump) looked at me and underscored, "well, the one thing we know is you're not gonna do anything. You don't even agree that the concerns that are being presented are valid. And here's someone who has a different view. So, why shouldn't I do that?" That's how the discussion then proceeded.
Back to Herschmann on video recording:
Jeff Clark was proposing that Jeff Rosen be replaced by Jeff Clark. and I thought the proposal was asinine.
Richard Donoghue, recorded interview:
Q: What were Clark's purported bases for why it was in the President's interest for him to step in? What would he do, how would things change, according to Mr. Clark in the meeting?
A: He repeatedly said to the president that if he was put in the seat, he would conduct real investigations that would, in his view, uncover widespread fraud. he would send out the letter that he had drafted and that this was the last opportunity to sort of set things straight with this defective election. And that he could do it and he had the intelligence and the will and the desire to pursue these matters in the way that the president thought most appropriate.
Back to Herschmann's video:
And he was making a pitch and every time he would get clobbered over the head, he would like say like... "Call to order, Mr. President, it's your decision, you get the chance to make this decision. You've heard everybody, you can make your determination." And then we'd jump back in and... you know... really clobber him.
Richard Donoghue, recorded interview:
I made the point that Jeff Clark is not even competent to serve as 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 grand jury, much less a trial jury. and he kinda 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's an oil spill." And Pat Cipollone weighed in at one point. I remember saying, you know, "That letter that this guy wants to send, that letter is a murder-suicide pact. It's gonna damage everyone who touches it. We should have nothing to do with that leter. I don't ever want to see that letter again. And so we went along those lines.
Back to Herschmann's video:
I thought Jeff's proposal... Clark's proposal was... nuts. I mean, this guy... at a certain point... Listen, the best thing I can tell, is that the only thing he knows about environmental and elections challenges is that they both start with E. And based on your answer tonight, I'm not even sure if he knows that.