Ex-U.S. attorney reportedly testifies he quit before Trump could fire him for not backing election fraud claims

Byung J. Pak.
(Image credit: AP Photo/ Ron Harris)

During closed-door testimony on Wednesday, Byung J. Pak, a former U.S. attorney in Atlanta, told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he resigned suddenly in January after being told that then-President Donald Trump was going to fire him for refusing to say there was widespread voter fraud in Georgia, a person familiar with the testimony told The New York Times.

Pak said the warning came on Jan. 3 from top Justice Department officials who relayed that Trump wasn't happy when Pak announced he investigated Trump's claims of voter fraud in Fulton County and found no evidence, the Times reports. Rather than be publicly fired, Pak wrote a letter of resignation on Jan. 4, stating that he did his best "to be thoughtful and consistent, and to provide justice for my fellow citizens in a fair, effective, and efficient manner."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.