Timeline of the coup: How Trump tried to weaponize the Justice Department to overturn the 2020 election. CNN POLITICS.

 ( THE AREAS OUTLINED IN RED ARE MINE. THEY ARE MEANT TO POINT OUT PROMINENT INDIVIDUALS WHO WERE WILLING TO COMMIT TREASON TO PUT TRUMP IN OFFICE.- DAVID)

Timeline of the coup: How Trump tried to weaponize the Justice Department to overturn the 2020 election

By Marshall Cohen
CNN Illustration by Alberto Mier

Washington (CNN)A full year after the 2020 presidential election, new details are still emerging about former President Donald Trump's unprecedented effort to overturn the results.

Many of Trump's actions were done in public view, including dozens of ill-fated lawsuits and tweets that undermined the electoral process. But congressional inquiries and news reports have shed new light on what happened behind the scenes as Trump tried to cling to power.

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of Trump's attempted coup was how he relentlessly tried to weaponize the Justice Department to nullify President Joe Biden's victory. The Democratic-run Senate Judiciary Committee investigated Trump's conduct and concluded in a recent report that he "grossly abused the power of the presidency."

Here's a big-picture breakdown of the attempted coup, along with a day-by-day timeline of Trump's efforts to co-opt the Justice Department to help his campaign.

Big-picture summary of the coup attempt

Four days after Election Day, CNN and other news outlets projected that Biden had won. Instead of conceding, Trump immediately started pressuring local, state and federal officials to overturn the results. Many of these officials rebuffed his demands, concluding they were unethical, illegal or unconstitutional. But some officials and advisers joined the charge and tried to help.

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Within weeks, Trump met with and spoke to officials from Michigan and Pennsylvania who were involved in the election process, hoping they'd block Biden's victory. He fired a senior cybersecurity official at the Department of Homeland Security who publicly debunked his lies about voter fraud. And he cranked up the pressure on the Justice Department, even after Attorney General Bill Barr ordered prosecutors to investigate voter fraud allegations.

He tried -- but failed -- to stop certification in key states in late November and December. After that, Trump and his allies filed meritless lawsuits across the country seeking to nullify the results.

Trump called Pennsylvania lawmakers, urging them to ignore the fact that Biden won their state and appoint GOP electors instead. He called Georgia's governor and pushed him to convince state lawmakers there to do the same. These efforts also fell flat, and members of the Electoral College met on December 14, 2020, to officially affirm Biden's victory.

Running out of time before the transfer of power, Trump became increasingly desperate and even entertained a suggestion to declare martial law. In a now-infamous call on January 2, 2021, Trump pleaded with Georgia's top election official to "find" enough Republican votes to overtake Biden's margin. (This phone call is now at the center of a criminal investigation by state prosecutors in Atlanta.)

Trump and his allies repeatedly urged top Justice Department officials to help them overturn the results -- and Trump nearly fired the acting attorney general who refused to do his bidding.

Trump also mounted a private and public effort to pressure Vice President Mike Pence into unconstitutionally nullifying Biden's win while presiding over the Electoral College process.

The coup attempt reached a horrifying crescendo on January 6, 2021, when Trump held a massive rally near the White House and incited thousands of supporters to attack the Capitol while lawmakers were certifying the Electoral College results. The insurrection was quelled, but it led to five deaths and 140 police officers were injured. Biden was inaugurated two weeks later.

Timeline of Trump's efforts to abuse the DOJ

November 7

• CNN and other news networks project that Biden will win the 2020 presidential election.

November 9

• Breaking from long-standing Justice Department policy, Barr issues a directive giving federal prosecutors more leeway to ramp up voter fraud investigations. The move is controversial because -- for decades -- the Justice Department would wait until elections were certified before taking overt investigative steps, to avoid the appearance of trying to influence the results. The top election crimes prosecutor resigns in protest, and other prosecutors denounce Barr's order.

November 19

• Trump attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell hold a bizarre news conference filled with lies about fraud and unhinged talk of a worldwide conspiracy to rig the election. Powell says, "A full-scale criminal investigation needs to be undertaken immediately by the Department of Justice."

Rudy Giuliani, attorney for President Donald Trump, conducts a news conference at the Republican National Committee on lawsuits regarding the outcome of the 2020 presidential election on Thursday, November 19, 2020.

November 29

• In an interview with Fox News, Trump says it's "inconceivable" that the Justice Department and FBI aren't doing more to investigate his voter fraud allegations. "Where are they?" he asks.

December 1

• Barr tells The Associated Press in a bombshell interview that the Justice Department didn't find widespread fraud. After the story is published, Trump confronts Barr in the White House. According to a book by Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker, an "explosive and crazed" Trump berates Barr for publicly admitting that there wasn't widespread fraud. Barr tells Trump his campaign lawyers are a "clown show" and that his fraud claims are "complete nonsense."

December 10

• Trump retweets a post from a Republican congressman who said Trump should order Barr to appoint a special prosecutor to "investigate irregularities in the 2020 election."

December 14

• Trump's assistant sends Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen a document about alleged irregularities in Michigan and says it's "from POTUS," according to emails released by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Later that day, while the Electoral College meets in state capitals, Trump announces that Barr will resign and Rosen will soon replace him in an acting capacity. CNN reported that Trump seriously considered firing Barr, but Barr decided to quit.

Jeffrey Rosen, deputy attorney general, speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice (DOJ) in Washington, D.C.

December 15

• Trump summons Rosen to the Oval Office and pressures him to take action regarding supposed irregularities in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia, according to Rosen's testimony to the Senate. Trump also urges Rosen to file legal briefs supporting GOP-backed election lawsuits and to appoint a special counsel to hunt for fraud, according to The New York Times. Rosen refuses to do Trump's bidding.

December 18

• After failing to persuade Rosen, Trump turns to some of the most extreme members of his coterie, including Powell and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. (Powell represented Flynn in his criminal case for lying to the FBI about his Russian contacts. That case ended when Trump pardoned Flynn a few weeks before the White House meeting.) CNN reported that Flynn and Powell push Trump to consider declaring martial law or signing executive orders to seize voting equipment. Trump also thought about circumventing the Justice Department and naming Powell as a special counsel within the White House to investigate bizarre vote-rigging conspiracies.

December 21

• Trump falsely claims -- yet again -- that he won "in a landslide" and says "we need backing from the Justice Department" to uncover the supposed fraud and keep him in power.

December 23

• Barr officially resigns, and Rosen becomes acting attorney general.

Shortly before December 24

• Trump meets with Jeffrey Clark, the acting assistant attorney general for the Civil Division, who later will play a key role in the effort to use the Justice Department to keep Trump in power.

December 24

• In a phone call, Trump tells Rosen to "make sure the (Justice) Department is really looking into" voter fraud claims in Pennsylvania and Arizona, according to Rosen's testimony to the Senate.

December 26

• In a series of tweets, Trump bashes the Justice Department and the FBI for having "done nothing" about supposed voter fraud. He says "history will remember" their inaction and promotes his upcoming rally in DC on January 6, when Congress will affirm the Electoral College results.

December 27

• Trump continues pleading with Rosen to intervene in the election. In a phone call, Trump tells Rosen and his deputy Richard Donoghue that they should "just say that the election was corrupt" and "leave the rest to me and the (GOP) congressmen," according to Donoghue's contemporaneous notes, which he later provided to the House Oversight Committee. Rosen informs Trump that the voter fraud allegations are unfounded and that the Justice Department "can't, and won't, just flip a switch and change the election." After that, Trump mentions that he's thinking about getting rid of Rosen and putting Clark in charge of the Justice Department.
• At Trump's request, GOP Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania later calls Donoghue and says the Justice Department isn't doing enough about the election, according to the Senate report. Perry was one of the most vocal promoters of the "big lie" that the 2020 election was stolen.

Richard Donoghue served as acting Deputy Attorney General for the critical transition period between the Trump and Biden administrations. He witnessed some of Trump's efforts to pressure the Justice Department to help him stay in power.

December 28

• Trump calls Donoghue for a brief follow-up about his voter fraud claims, per the Senate report.
• Clark circulates a draft letter among Justice Department leadership that he wants to send to officials in Georgia. The letter would've done exactly what Trump wanted: It says prosecutors found "significant concerns" with the election results and urges the Republican governor to "immediately call a special session" of the state legislature to appoint pro-Trump electors. Clark calls this a "proof of concept" that could be replicated in other states Trump lost.
• Rosen and Donoghue refuse to sign the letter and it is never sent. In an email, Donoghue bluntly tells Clark that "there is no chance that I would sign this letter or anything remotely like this."
• The Senate Judiciary Committee report concluded that "Clark's proposal to wield DOJ's power to override the already-certified popular vote reflected a stunning distortion of DOJ's authority."
• Separately, Trump meets with a supportive attorney, Kurt Olsen. Trump directs Olsen to get in touch with top Justice Department officials about filing a lawsuit that would nullify the results from several key states that Biden won, according to emails released by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Olsen later has a phone call with Rosen's chief of staff about the potential suit.
• According to internal emails made public in the Senate report, Clark starts promoting pro-Trump conspiracy theories within the Justice Department, including the absurd claim that Chinese spies used thermometers to tamper with US voting machines.

December 29

• Trump's assistant sends a draft lawsuit to Rosen, saying Trump wants him to review it, according to emails released by the Senate Judiciary Committee. The lawsuit, which was peddled by Olsen, isn't ever filed. But the draft envisions that the Justice Department would ask the Supreme Court to nullify the results from several battleground states that Biden won.

• White House chief of staff Mark Meadows emails Rosen for the first time about a farfetched and baseless conspiracy theory alleging that Biden supporters at the CIA used Italian satellites to remotely switch votes from Trump to Biden.

December 30

• Meadows emails Rosen and asks him to "have your team look into" several pro-Trump voter fraud theories in Georgia, according to documents released by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Separately, Trump retweets a post about fraud claims in Georgia, and adds, "where is the FBI?"
• Olsen, the pro-Trump attorney, calls Rosen and says Trump wants the Justice Department to "file this brief by noon today," referring to the potential Supreme Court lawsuit. Trump later speaks with Rosen, who tells him that the Justice Department has no legal basis to file the suit.

December 31

• Rosen and Donoghue go to the White House for another meeting with Trump, according to the Senate report. Rosen later testified to the Senate that Trump "seemed unhappy" that the Justice Department still had not "found the fraud." Donoghue later testified that Trump mentioned he was considering firing Rosen and installing Clark as the leader of the Justice Department.

January 1

• In a series of emails over a few days, Meadows encourages Rosen to investigate several voter fraud theories, according to documents released by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Meadows brings up alleged irregularities in Atlanta, and even in New Mexico, which Biden won by 11 points. Rosen takes no action, and Donoghue brushes off Meadows' latest fraud theories as "pure insanity."

January 3

• Rosen and Clark go to the Oval Office for an "Apprentice"-style showdown, according to testimony from top officials. Trump considers firing Rosen and installing Clark as acting attorney general, because Clark is willing to send the letters to Georgia and other battleground states telling them there were "irregularities" with their elections. Trump opens the three-hour meeting by saying, "One thing we know is you, Rosen, aren't going to do anything to overturn the election." CNN previously reported that about a half-dozen senior department officials are prepared to resign in protest if Rosen is deposed, but Rosen survives the meeting.
• Later that night, after the meeting, Trump calls Donoghue to tell him about new fraud claims.

January 4

• The US attorney in Atlanta, Byung Jin "BJay" Pak, abruptly resigns, citing "unforeseen circumstances." According to Pak's testimony to the Senate, Donoghue told him he needed to quit because Trump was going to fire him. Trump said during the Oval Office showdown a day earlier that he believed Pak was a "never Trumper" and that Pak wasn't doing enough to find fraud. Trump then changes the line of succession to replace Pak with a US attorney who he believes will "do something" about the election, according to the Senate report.
• Separately, Trump meets with Pence in the Oval Office. Also in attendance is right-wing lawyer John Eastman, who pitches Pence on a legally dubious scheme to declare Trump the winner while Pence presides over the counting of the electoral votes, according to a bombshell book from Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. (Eastman later told CNN that he sought only to delay certification, not to throw the election to Trump.)

January 6

• Tens of thousands of Trump supporters descend on Washington for a rally. Trump delivers a militant speech and urges his followers to march to the Capitol and "fight like hell" to stop lawmakers, and Pence, from certifying the election results. Thousand of rioters attack the Capitol, breaching the Senate floor. Five people die in the chaos and 140 police officers are hurt. The insurrection is quashed after several hours. Lawmakers certify Biden's victory, Pence ignores Eastman's scheme and follows the Constitution, and Biden becomes President-elect.

A pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol, breaking windows and clashing with police officers.

January 20

• Biden is sworn in as the 46th President on the same stage that rioters had ransacked a few weeks earlier. In his inaugural address, Biden says, "We have learned again that democracy is precious. Democracy is fragile. And at this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed."

Joe Biden is sworn in as U.S. President as his wife Dr. Jill Biden looks on during his inauguration on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2021 in Washington, DC.

Trump's rallies ignore reality. But the Jan. 6 committee is closing in. NBCNewsTHINK.

Opinion | Trump's rallies ignore reality. But the Jan. 6 committee is closing in. https://nbcnews.com/think/opinion/trump-s-rally-texas-can-ignore-his-fake-electors-scandal-ncna1288145… via

@NBCNewsTHINK

OBAMACARE IS PROVING POPULAR IN RED STATES THAT DIDN'T EXPAND MEDICARE. CNN POLITICS.

 BY- Tami Luhby

(CNN)When Pedro Peña lost his job as a restaurant cook at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, he applied for Medicaid to replace his job-based insurance. A diabetic, Peña understood the importance of being covered.

But the Miami resident was repeatedly turned down for public health insurance because Florida is among the dozen states that have not expanded Medicaid to low-income adults.

Peña, 62, didn't realize the Affordable Care Act still existed since he had stopped hearing about it. But late last year, his friends and family suggested he reach out to Epilepsy Florida to see if he could sign up.

Pedro Pena of Miami signed up for Affordable Care Act coverage for 2022 after losing his restaurant job -- and his health insurance -- at the start of the pandemic.

Shirley Dominguez, one of the navigators at the nonprofit group, enrolled him in a Florida Blue plan with no deductible that costs $41 a month after federal subsidies. Peña, who is afraid to return to work during the pandemic, quickly found a "wonderful" primary care physician and secured his diabetes medication.

"I am very grateful to God to get insurance," said Peña, who noted Dominguez's help was crucial since he found the enrollment process to be very complicated. "At my age, I need to make sure I have access to doctors."

Peña is among the millions of Americans who have selected 2022 coverage on the Affordable Care Act exchanges, many for the first time. More than 13.8 million people have picked plans on the federal and state marketplaces -- 2 million of them new to Obamacare for 2022.

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That's an increase of 21% in sign-ups through the federal exchange, Healthcare.gov, as of December 15, from the same time a year ago.

Even more notable, however, is the popularity Obamacare is enjoying in many of the states that didn't expand Medicaid. Florida, which has the highest number of people picking plans at nearly 2.6 million, has seen interest soar by nearly 23%.

And in Texas, which has the highest uninsured rate in the nation, 1.7 million residents have selected policies, up roughly 33% from last year.

Open enrollment ends Saturday, though consumers can sign up during the year if they meet certain criteria, such as losing job-based coverage.

More federal support

The surge in interest in the Affordable Care Act comes as the Biden administration and the Democratic-led Congress have pumped more resources into the 9-year-old program. That's quite a change from the four years under the Trump administration, which deeply slashed funding for marketing and enrollment assistance and cut the sign-up period in half to six weeks.

The hefty enhancement of Obamacare's federal premium subsidies, part of the Democrats' $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package enacted last March, is helping drive consumers to sign up for plans.

This year, enrollees pay no more than 8.5% of their income toward coverage, down from nearly 10%. And lower-income policyholders receive subsidies that eliminate their premiums.

Also, those earning more than 400% of the federal poverty level are now eligible for help for the first time.

But this generous aid expires after 2022, leading some consumers and experts to worry about what will happen next year when premiums would likely rise. President Joe Biden's Build Back Better plan would extend the subsidies through 2025, but it remains stalled in the Senate.

Beefing up marketing and outreach

To let Americans know about the extra assistance available now, the Biden administration has launched an extensive outreach and marketing campaign.

"This year, our levels really were unprecedented, particularly focused on underserved and harder-to-reach areas," Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, told CNN. "It made a real difference in how much people were aware of coverage. Then the increased affordability made a huge difference with the number of people who were able to find plans for premiums under $10."

The agency is teaming up with local groups to spread the word, restarting its Obama-era Champion for Coverage program with more than 2,600 community organizations, more than doubling its size. CMS is concentrating its media efforts on local markets and has added six additional languages to its marketing campaign.

"The noise over the last couple of years is something we really did have to cut through," Brooks-LaSure said of the uncertainty that had plagued the health reform law. "Yes, the Affordable Care Act is still here, and it's more alive than ever."

The agency is not disclosing the size of the marketing budget.

The Biden administration is also pouring money into enrollment assistance -- which serves the dual purpose of reaching folks in local communities and helping them sign up for plans. Roughly 60 navigator organizations have received about $90 million in funding to educate and aid consumers in enrolling in the 33 states served by the federal exchange.

The remaining states run their own marketplaces, including outreach and enrollment efforts.

The extra funding makes a big difference, navigator groups say. The number of navigators has quadrupled to more than 1,500 this year, with assistance available in nearly every county served by the federal exchange.

Epilepsy Florida, which is in its ninth year as a navigator, is now able to serve eight counties in South Florida and the Treasure Coast with 26 staffers, including several who speak Creole. They have helped 755 people enroll through early January, said Islara Souto, who directs the organization's navigation program.

Epilepsy Florida navigator Renita Samuels-Dixon hands out fliers about Affordable Care Act enrollment.

She expects to see a crush of clients in the final days of open enrollment on Friday and Saturday. Epilepsy Florida is also holding an "all hands on deck" telethon on Saturday to help people secure coverage.

During the sign-up period for 2021 coverage, the organization only had seven staffers working in four counties who enrolled 526 people.

It could afford to expand because its budget grew to $2.3 million for the current year from a skeletal $125,000 for the prior one.

"Now we have money and the capacity," Souto said. "It's just a matter of outreach and education, getting this information to consumers and letting them know they have this opportunity."

The coronavirus pandemic has also deepened Americans' appreciation of health insurance.

"Covid-19 has brought a different type of awareness of our physical health," said Daniel Bouton, senior director of health and wellness at the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, which is assisting in Obamacare sign-ups for the first time. "What we see from our clients is that they are health conscious. They see health insurance and access to health insurance as a layer of protection for their health and their family and their wallet."

Maria Torres, a navigator with the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, helps a client sign up for Affordable Care Act coverage.

The United Way decided to offer navigator services this year for the first time because North Texas had no one helping people enroll during the Trump administration. The organization, which has received a little over $3 million in funding for the year, has used its large network of community and corporate partners to spread the word. Its outreach campaign includes knocking on doors, radio and television spots, newspaper ads and billboards.

Every time Bouton appears on Univision to talk about the Affordable Care Act, the navigators' phones start ringing more, he said.

Positive reviews

Word of mouth is also essential.

Netra Webb, 59, thought she would be uninsured in 2022 -- a distressing situation since the Dallas resident has health issues. But the insurance plan offered by her new employer was too expensive, so she just planned to go without coverage.

But then a friend from church referred her to the United Way. A navigator set her up with a Blue Cross plan in one day.

Because of the high cost of her work-based options, she qualified for premium subsidies. She's paying $120 a month, has a $1,500 deductible and is able to continue seeing the same doctors.

"It was a great relief," said Webb, who works full time as a security guard. "The marketplace just made it great for me all the way around. My copay, my medicine, everything about it was great."

In the Tampa area of Florida, the Family Healthcare Foundation has its hands full this enrollment season signing up people who recently moved to the Sunshine State, those changing jobs or retiring, and young adults who can no longer stay on their parents' plans, among others. The organization works closely with the Children's Board of Hillsborough County's Family Resource Centers, which support many new residents, as well as local hospitals and community health care centers.

Navigators from the Family Healthcare Foundation help Florida residents enroll in Affordable Care Act plans in early January.

The enhanced subsidies are particularly important to early retirees since their coverage can be very expensive, Katie Roders Turner, the group's executive director, said.

Ed DeBerri had hoped to retire from his job as a criminal defense investigator for the state of Florida last year at age 62, but he didn't know if he could afford health insurance on his own.

The Dade City resident checked in with a Family Healthcare Foundation navigator a year ago and realized he could swing it. DeBerri left his job in September and now has what he calls an "excellent" United Healthcare plan with no deductible for about $50 a month, which is what he paid for coverage while employed.

Florida resident Ed DeBerri was able to retire at 62 because he found Affordable Care Act coverage.

Now, he can devote more time to the philosophy and theology classes he teaches at Saint Leo University and to an update of his 1985 book "Catholic Social Teaching."

"Without the ACA, I wouldn't be able to retire at 62," he said. "I would have had to wait for Medicare at 65."