High drama as Jan. 6 hearing details Trump's effort to corrupt Justice Department

Former DOJ officials described how they resisted Trump's relentless pressure.

ByLibby Cathey and Alexandra Hutzler
Last Updated: June 23, 2022, 1:56 PM EDT

Thursday's hearing of the Jan. 6 committee focused on the pressure then-President Donald Trump and his allies put on the Justice Department to help overturn the 2020 election.

Here is how the hearing unfolded:

Jun 23, 2022, 1:56 PM EDT

Hearing to detail Trump pressure campaign on DOJ

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and what led up to it is set on Thursday to bring into focus Trump's relentless post-Election Day efforts to enlist the Justice Department in his failed bid to overturn his election loss.

The committee's fifth hearing this month will feature testimony from three former top officials in the department who say they resisted Trump and his allies' repeated entreaties, former acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen, former deputy acting attorney general Richard Donoghue and former top DOJ lawyer Steven Engel.

A video featuring former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen is played during a hearing by the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, June 13, 2022, in Washington, D.C.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

All three have previously confirmed that they joined a group of top White House lawyers in threatening a mass resignation if Trump didn't back away from plans to oust Rosen and replace him with another obscure official in the top echelons of the department who was sympathetic to the Trump's baseless claims of widespread voter fraud.

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-ABC News' Alexander Mallin

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