Top leaders at the Justice Department threatened to resign if Donald Trump replaced Jeffrey Rosen.
Posted by The Briefing with Jen Psaki, Checked
- Sources
- 6 support
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 90%
The Briefing with Jen PsakiOct 23, 2026
Multiple tier1 and tier2 sources (AP, Reuters, PolitiFact, NPR, NBC, CBS) report that top Justice Department leaders threatened mass resignation if Trump replaced acting AG Jeffrey Rosen, and that Trump backed down.
What was said
… He replaced him with a guy named Jeffrey Rosen, and then Trump reportedly called Rosen almost every day, pressuring him to use the Justice Department to push the big lie, but Rosen refused. So Trump tried to have him replaced, but the top leaders at the Justice Department all unanimously threatened to resign if Trump replaced him, so Trump backed down. As bad as things got in 2020, they could have been worse. The Justice Department, as an institution, held. The people leading it knew that DOJ was meant to be independent. It was meant to work for the American people, not for the president. …
The Briefing with Jen Psaki · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. Reuters reports that Trump sought to replace Acting AG Jeffrey Rosen with Jeffrey Clark, and that the move was headed off when most of the rest of Justice Department leadership threatened to resign en masse.[1]
Supports. PolitiFact's timeline states Trump only backed down when told there would be a 'mass resignation' at the department if he fired the acting attorney general.[2]
Supports. NPR and CBS report that Justice Department officials including Donoghue and Engel told Trump there would be mass resignations if he replaced Rosen with Clark.[4][5]
Supports. AP reports that department leaders told Trump they would resign if he tried to install a loyalist, and Democracy Now quotes Donoghue threatening hundreds of resignations.[3][6]
Context. The claim's 'unanimously' wording is slightly stronger than some reports ('most of the rest of Justice Department leadership'), a minor imprecision that does not change the core assertion.[1]
Sources
6 sources: 3 fact-checkers, 2 tier 2, 1 not rated
- 1Trump allies sought pardons after supporting his attempts ...reuters.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports, context
- 2Timeline: Donald Trump pressures Justice Department on ...politifact.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 3Takeaways: Trump risked provoking 'constitutional crisis'apnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 4Former DOJ officials detail threatening to resign en masse ...npr.org · tier 2 · cited for: supports
- 5www.cbsnews.com › news › trump-2020-election-justiceSenate report reveals new details about Trump's efforts to ...cbsnews.com · tier 2 · cited for: supports
- 6Top DOJ Staff Threatened Mass Resignation as Trump Weighed ...democracynow.org · not rated · cited for: supports
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
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