DOJ watchdog will investigate if officials tried to 'improperly' overturn the 2020 election
Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz is planning to probe whether current or former department officials tried to overturn the 2020 election.
Reports over the weekend detailed former President Donald Trump's alleged plan to oust former Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen after he apparently refused to help cast doubt on Georgia's presidential election results. Horowitz's Monday announcement seemed to be a direct response to those reports, saying he would investigate whether any officials "engaged in an improper attempt to have DOJ seek to alter the outcome of the 2020 presidential election." The probe will be limited to current and former employees of the Justice Department, Horowitz said.
Trump's usually loyal attorney general William Barr left the White House just a month before Trump was set to leave office. Both Barr and Rosen reportedly refused to help Trump with his challenges to President Biden's 2020 win, leading Trump to consider ousting Rosen in favor of another loyalist, DOJ civil division head Jeffrey Clark. Trump denies having plotted to remove Rosen, though some former Justice Department officials had reportedly planned to resign if he had been removed. Clark meanwhile reportedly aided Trump in his far-fetched plan to keep hold of the White House.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
Political cartoons for November 29Cartoons Saturday's political cartoons include Kash Patel's travel perks, believing in Congress, and more
-
Nigel Farage: was he a teenage racist?Talking Point Farage’s denials have been ‘slippery’, but should claims from Reform leader’s schooldays be on the news agenda?
-
Pushing for peace: is Trump appeasing Moscow?In Depth European leaders succeeded in bringing themselves in from the cold and softening Moscow’s terms, but Kyiv still faces an unenviable choice
-
Femicide: Italy’s newest crimeThe Explainer Landmark law to criminalise murder of a woman as an ‘act of hatred’ or ‘subjugation’ but critics say Italy is still deeply patriarchal
-
Brazil’s Bolsonaro behind bars after appeals run outSpeed Read He will serve 27 years in prison
-
Americans traveling abroad face renewed criticism in the Trump eraThe Explainer Some of Trump’s behavior has Americans being questioned
-
UN Security Council backs Trump’s Gaza peace planSpeed Read The United Nations voted 13-0 to endorse President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan to withdraw Israeli troops from Gaza
-
Chile picks leftist, far-right candidates for runoff voteSpeed Read The presidential runoff election will be between Jeannette Jara, a progressive from President Gabriel Boric’s governing coalition, and far-right former congressman José Antonio Kast
-
Venezuela mobilizes as top US warship nearsSpeed Read The largest and most advanced US aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, has entered the Caribbean and put Venezuela on high alert
-
Nigeria confused by Trump invasion threatSpeed Read Trump has claimed the country is persecuting Christians
-
Gaza ceasefire teeters as Netanyahu orders strikesSpeed Read Israel accused Hamas of firing on Israeli troops
