On Monday, Byung “BJay” Pak testified to a congressional committee investigating the events that led to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Pak was the U.S. attorney in Atlanta who was forced out when he didn’t find evidence of voting fraud. In December, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published a detailed account of the effort by then-President Donald Trump and some Georgia Republicans to overturn Joe Biden’s victory. Here’s an excerpt from that account, focusing on Pak’s resignation. You can read the full AJC account here.
BJay Pak learned about Donald Trump’s call to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger through news accounts on Jan. 3, 2021. He was upset and disappointed.
Despite Justice Department assurances that there was no widespread fraud in Georgia, “the president was seeking to overturn the election, or at least find ballots or represent that there was (sic) irregularities,” Pak later told U.S. Senate investigators.
Pak considered resigning immediately. But the runoff election for Georgia’s two U.S. Senate seats was just two days away. He didn’t want his sudden resignation to “give some credence to the allegations of fraud” or be used as a “certain kind of talking point,” he told investigators.
So he decided to stick with his original plan. After the election, he would offer his resignation, effective Jan. 20, when (Joe) Biden would be sworn in (as president).
But Pak would be gone the next day.
At a Jan. 3 White House meeting, top DOJ administrators threatened to resign if Trump appointed Jeffrey Clark acting attorney general. They said other senior officials would join them.
Trump agreed not to replace Jeffrey Rosen. But he continued to complain about Georgia voting fraud, and he found a new target for his wrath.
“Atlanta, Atlanta, no surprise there,” Trump said, according to acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue’s deposition to a U.S. Senate committee. “They didn’t find anything. No surprise because we have a never-Trumper there as U.S. attorney.”
Trump had appointed Pak as the U.S. attorney in Atlanta in 2017. A former federal prosecutor, Pak served six years as a Republican in the state House of Representatives. He told Senate investigators he was not a “Never Trumper.”
But in 2016, Pak had said Trump made it “extremely difficult” for Republicans to court women and minority candidates and voters. Trump cited the remark at the Jan. 3 meeting.
The president told Donoghue to fire Pak. Donoghue told investigators he talked Trump into letting Pak resign instead. The president agreed, but he wanted Pak gone immediately.
“Tomorrow is his last day as U.S. attorney,” Trump said.
Donoghue broke the news to Pak that night. He offered Pak another senior Justice Department position through the end of Trump’s tenure. Pak declined.
“I told him, ‘Rich, thanks, but no thanks,’ ” he said in his Senate deposition. “ ‘I’m done.’ ”
The next morning, Pak resigned.
“I deeply appreciate the opportunity to have served as United States attorney,” he wrote to Trump. “I wish you and your administration the best of luck and success.”
Senate investigators later asked Pak whether — as of Jan. 4, 2021, his last day in office — he knew of any evidence or credible allegations of significant fraud in the 2020 election.
“I was not aware of any evidence that indicated widespread fraud or anything that would affect the actual result of the election in Georgia,” Pak said.
