Donald Trump election loss: Chief of Staff Mark Meadows reportedly asked acting DOJ AG to investigate 'Italygate' theory

Former President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede and belief that he only lost due to a “rigged” election in the 2020 elections led to desperate efforts to undermine Joe Biden’s election victory such as the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Over the weekend, a report has emerged that revealed Trump’s final Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, pressured the DOJ’s acting attorney general to push the now-former president’s big lie of a stolen election.

The New York Times reported during the weekend that Meadows pressured acting DOJ attorney general Jeffrey Rosen to help push the baseless claim of election fraud in the 2020 elections. The report also revealed that Meadows emailed Rosen five times in December and January, in the final weeks of Trump’s term. Meadows went to the extent that he pressured Rosen to investigate a conspiracy theory that satellites from Italy interfered in the elections by switching votes to Biden.

One email involved the conspiracy theory, known as “Italygate.” The outlet went on to add that Rosen refused to set up a meeting with a former CIA agent pushing the baseless claim online. In another email, Meadows reportedly repeated Rudy Giuliani’s claims of New Mexico’s election results were tampered with fraud. Giuliani led the efforts to contest election results, which were mostly laughed at, and was unsuccessful.

To note, there was no evidence of election results in New Mexico getting affected by fraud. Rosen ultimately rebuffed Meadows and Trump, echoing former DOJ AG Bill Barr that there is no evidence of widespread election fraud. This led to the now-former president considering replacing Rosen with a loyalist, but Rosen stayed in place especially at the time of the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Trump has reportedly held on to the belief that the ongoing election audits in Georgia and Arizona - both states that went to Biden - would see him getting reinstalled as the US President. However, another person in his close circle of aides has rebuffed the reports. Trump aide Corey Lewandowski told Fox News Sunday that Trump indeed lost the 2020 elections.

Lewandowski said that he has spoken to Trump several times and has no recollection of having a conversation about him getting reinstated. “I know of no provision in the constitution that allows it to occur, nor do I know of any provision in the constitution that allows an individual who lost an election to come back in if a recount is dubbed inaccurate,” said the Trump adviser.