Dan Rather Disputes Chuck Grassley's Defense of Trump: 'Conspiracy to Destroy' Democracy

Dan Rather rebuked Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Monday for defending former President Donald Trump allegedly attempting to convince the Department of Justice (DOJ) to overturn his 2020 election loss.

The veteran journalist shared a clip of Grassley commenting on the House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot and allegations that Trump attempted to pressure the DOJ to intervene after his loss to President Joe Biden. Allegations include Trump calling former Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and urging him to falsely declare that "the election was corrupt" and to "leave the rest to me and the [Republican] Congressmen."

"The president has every right to discuss ideas and strategies with his closest advisers," Grassley said in the clip. "The president, whether that president is Democrat or Republican, should feel unrestrained to bring ideas to his closest staff for robust discussion. Eventually the facts will come out and Trump will have to address that. Good or bad, depending on the facts at hand."

"The essential question that should be asked [is] what was the final decision," he added. "That is my major concern about the recent public comments coming out of these interviews... relating to this new Trump investigation."

Rather, a household name while anchoring the CBS Evening News for decades who has more recently been known as an outspoken critic of Trump, swiftly rejected Grassley's assertion that Trump had a "right" to discuss what could have constituted overturning the valid results of the election.

"We need to be very clear about where we are with this," tweeted Rather. "We are talking about conspiring to destroy the foundation of American democracy. It should go without saying that no president, or ANY American, has any such right. Or anything even approaching it."

Newsweek reached out to Grassley's office for comment.

Rosen, who became acting attorney general after former Attorney General William Barr resigned in December 2020, offered closed-door testimony concerning Trump's actions following his election loss to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Saturday, while he spoke for several hours to the DOJ's office of the inspector general about the same topic on Friday.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said that Trump's actions suggested he was "leading up to" a coup while reacting to Rosen's testimony during a Sunday interview on CNN's State of the Union. Durbin praised Rosen for resisting "pressure" from Trump.

"To think that Bill Barr left, resigned after he had announced he didn't see irregularities in the election, and then his replacement was under extraordinary pressure from the president," Durbin said. "The former president is not subtle when he wants something and I think it's a good thing for America that we had a person like Rosen in that position, who... withstood the pressure."