CREW requests records on Meadows’ involvement in pushing for DOJ investigation of election conspiracy theories 

The public needs to know how involved top government officials were in advancing election conspiracy theories. In the final weeks of the Trump administration, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows repeatedly pushed former Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen to investigate baseless conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election. Jeffrey Bossert Clark, a former top Department of Justice official, also pushed the DOJ to investigate unfounded election fraud claims. 

CREW has requested all communications and meeting records from November 1, 2020 to January 20, 2021 between Meadows and officials within the DOJ, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Department of Homeland Security, and the National Security Agency. 

In one email, Meadows asked Rosen to investigate Italygate, the conspiracy theory that people in Italy remotely tampered with U.S. voting machines through military technology and satellites, switching votes for Trump to Biden. Meadow’s actions appear to violate long standing guidelines which forbid almost all White House personnel from contacting the DOJ about ongoing investigations.

The conspiracy theories and lies about the 2020 election results helped fan the flames for the deadly January 6th Capitol insurrection by Trump supporters. Meadows’ involvement in pressuring top DOJ officials to investigate unfounded conspiracy theories was not only a waste of crucial resources, but also a brazen attempt to undermine faith in democracy and validate misinformation. Records could reveal the extent to which Trump’s allies potentially coordinated with and pressured the DOJ to advance Trump’s agenda of election fraud.