After Acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen repeatedly refused to follow President's instructions to use the Department of Justices law enforcement power for illegal ends over the past week, Jeff was removed from the Department by President Hovakimian in an email he never sent. PADAG Rich Donoghue, and I are resigning from the Department immediately.Hovakimian wrote then that Rosen's greatest concern was preserving DOJs institutional integrity.He said that the decision about when and how to resign, and whether justice is being served best, is an individual matter, which is informed by family and personal circumstances. Jeff asked me to relay to you that, regardless of your decision, he is certain you will always adhere to the highest standards and act only in the United States' interests.According to someone familiar with the matter, Hovakimian wrote the email Jan. 3, from the Justice Departments headquarters. This was after Rosen and Donoghue left for a meeting at the White House with Trump.His draft email was not published before. Raphael Prober is a partner at AkinGump and a lawyer for Hovakimian. He declined to comment.New York Times first reported the threat of resignation by officials. It stated that the group of Justice Department employees had participated in Donoghue's conference call. They had already agreed to resign together if Trump fired Rosen.The disclosure of Hovakimian's letters comes as the House Oversight Committee intensifies its investigation into Trump's turbulent final weeks and Trumps attempts at pressuring the Department of Justice to interfere in the 2020 election. Hovakimian gave a closed-door interview that was transcribed before the committees staff Tuesday morning. A Department of Justice memo opened the door for other witnesses.A copy of the email draft has been obtained by the House Oversight committee. The spokesperson for the panel declined to comment immediately.Trump has indicated that he won't immediately block the officials from giving evidence. His lawyer Doug Collins wrote Monday that Trump would not sue to stop former officials from the DOJ participating in multiple probes into Trump's last weeks of office.Collins, a former House GOP lawmaker appeared to rescind the letter in a Fox News interview on Tuesday where he suggested that former DOJ officials should not answer congressional questions.Collins called the DOJ waiver political and stated that he hopes former officials withhold information from Congress that could fall under executive privilege. Tyler Olson, Fox News reporter for Fox News, wrote that Collins had railed against the DOJ waiver.According to Collins, the former president believes that those communications are confidential and are protected by executive privilege.Trump's exact demands of the ex-DOJ officials are not clear. He also refuses legal action to secure communications he believes should be protected by executive privilege. Collins did not respond immediately to POLITICO's request for comment.His team has little time to communicate their message. Hovakimian answered questions of congressional investigators on the morning Collins letter was sent. According to two sources familiar with the plans, two other former officials from DOJ are scheduled to interview with House Oversight over the next two weeks.
