Capitol Riot

Trump ‘Agitated' When Told Voting Machines Would Not Be Seized: Donoghue

Donoghue testified Thursday before the Jan. 6 panel

Richard Donoghue, former acting Deputy Attorney General, testifies as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol continues to reveal its findings of a year-long investigation, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, June 23, 2022. 
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

Richard Donoghue, the former acting deputy attorney general, testified Thursday that then-President Donald Trump became "agitated" when Department of Justice officials told him voting machines would not be seized to investigate allegations of election fraud.

Donoghue, testifying before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, described a fraught meeting with Trump, who was pressuring those in his administration to look into claims of fraud.

Late in the meeting, Donoghue said, Trump said people were telling him to change the leadership at the DOJ.

Trump, according to Donoghue, said he might elevate Jeffrey Clark, who was known at DOJ to champion Trump's false claims of election fraud. If he named Clark to a leadership position, "maybe something will finally get done," Trump said, according to Donoghue.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., spoke Thursday at a hearing on the U.S. Capitol Riot to detail former President Donald Trump’s efforts to use the Department of Justice to overthrow the results of the 2020 election. “Their only hope would be a last-ditch scheme to prevent Congress from certifying the win, thus throwing the entire system into constitutional chaos.”

This is a live update. Click here for complete coverage of the Jan. 6 hearings.

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