Senate Judiciary interviewing former DOJ officials on Trump post-election efforts

WASHINGTON — The Senate Judiciary Committee has interviewed former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and former acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue in its investigation into whether former President Donald Trump tried to enlist the Justice Department in his effort to overturn the 2020 election results.

A spokesperson for the committee confirmed that it held a closed-door interview with Donoghue on Friday and a seven-hour interview with Rosen on Saturday.

"Mr. Rosen appeared voluntarily, which says a lot, and cooperated with us," Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union."

Durbin said the pressure Trump put on Rosen "was real, very real. And it was very specific."

Trump "is not subtle when he wants something," he added.

Last month, the Justice Department told several former Trump administration officials that they could answer questions from Congress about efforts by Trump or Justice Department officials to challenge, stop counting or overturn the results of the election.

The letters were sent to former officials who were asked to testify or answer further questions from the House Oversight and Senate Judiciary committees, according to Justice Department and congressional officials.

Durbin said that there will be a report about on the interviews and that he will try to bring in more people, such as Jeffrey Clarke, a Trump-appointed Justice Department lawyer.

There will be another meeting this week, Durbin said. "We're going to keep pushing forward on this. I have been on this since January. And now we're getting some real results."