Ex-president, whose Senate trial will start in two weeks, reportedly planned to oust acting attorney general in bid to overturn election.

In yet another earth-shaking report, the New York Times said Trump plotted with an official at the Department of Justice to fire the acting attorney general, then force Georgia Republicans to overturn his defeat in that state.

That attempt to overturn the election also failed.

As the Capitol riot failed to overturn the election, so, according to the Times, Trump’s alleged plot against acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen did not work out either.

The report detailed “stunned silence” among DoJ leaders as they were told of moves by Trump and “unassuming lawyer” Jeffrey Clark to “cast doubt on the election results and bolster … legal battles and the pressure on Georgia politicians”.

Rosen took over as acting attorney general after the resignation of William Barr, who was widely seen as a Trump crony but who crossed the president by saying there was no evidence of the election fraud he baselessly alleged, claims which were repeatedly thrown out of court.

Georgia Republicans including Governor Brian Kemp and secretary of state Brad Raffensperger – the recipient of a wheedling and bullying call from Trump – also refused to accede to the president’s demands.

After the Capitol attack, Trump refused to resign.

Vice-President Mike Pence refused to invoke the 25th amendment, which provides for the removal of a president deemed unfit for office

Out of office, Trump is vulnerable to investigations at federal and state levels