Politico reports:

Former President Donald Trump pressured top Justice Department officials to publicly call the 2020 election “illegal” and “corrupt” and “leave the rest to me,” according to handwritten notes released by a House committee on Friday.

The notes, written by former acting Deputy Attorney General Richard P. Donoghue, shine additional light on the Trump’s unprecedented effort to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory during his waning days in office, based on false claims of fraud.

Donoghue’s notes detail a Dec. 27, 2020, phone call with Trump and then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, in which Trump told the top DOJ officials to “just say that the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me and the R. Congressmen,” according to Donoghue.

It was a reference to the GOP lawmakers whom Trump had enlisted to object to the Electoral College certification of Biden’s victory during a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, when a mob of Trump’s supporters violently stormed the Capitol in an attempt to halt the proceedings.

“We have an obligation to tell people that this was an illegal, corrupt election,” Trump told Donoghue and Rosen, according to the notes.

The former president also referenced what he called “electioneering fraud,” according to Donoghue, and told the officials: “You guys may not be following the internet the way I do.” [Continue reading…]