Trump ally Jeffrey Clark, a former official at the Department of Justice, who then-President Trump temporarily considered making the head of the department amid attempts to gin up support for pro-Trump election fraud lies, is under investigation for potential violations of federal law including making false statements, conspiracy, and obstruction.
The revelation of the potential offenses specifically driving the Justice Department’s interest in Clark was included in a newly available document from a committee of the D.C. Bar’s Board on Professional Responsibility. The committee’s report, which is apparently quoting comments from Clark’s legal team and sharing info tracing back to Clark himself, was issued amid a dispute between Clark and the disciplinary counsel at the D.C. Bar, who brought a wide-ranging ethics complaint against the ex-Justice Department official and continued Trump ally. It was alleged Clark “attempted to engage in conduct involving dishonesty, by sending the Proof of Concept letter containing false statements” and “attempted to engage in conduct that would seriously interfere with the administration of justice.” The so-called “Proof of Concept” letter is a draft of a missive meant for state officials in Georgia that pushed baseless arguments related to what Trump’s allies wanted done about the 2020 election.
Among other points, the letter alleged that the Justice Department isolated “significant concerns” that potentially impacted the outcome of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, which was false. The department hadn’t identified anything of the sort. The letter also pushed the idea of a special session of the state legislature for the purpose of getting behind a so-called alternate slate of electors from the state for Trump (or at least potentially doing so), but — as outlined by a filing from the D.C. disciplinary counsel — the Justice Department hadn’t concluded that the governor should kickstart a special session or that legislators could do so of their own accord in the absence of gubernatorial action, despite claims of the opposite. Amid the Justice Department’s probe, Clark’s residence was searched under the authority of a criminal search warrant, and agents seized various electronic devices that belonged to him. Those who conducted the search were apparently about a dozen armed agents with the Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General.
Clark is sticking to at least the idea the 2020 election deserved additional scrutiny, although it was comprehensively investigated at the federal and state levels. “Failing to conduct a federal investigation of irregularities that did or may have affected the outcome of the 2020 presidential election is a serious federal responsibility, not just a responsibility of state and local authorities or one that can be sloughed off onto the Trump campaign,” a recent legal filing from Clark’s side in the D.C. Bar dispute says after citing claims that investigations into the election weren’t appropriately comprehensive. “Additionally, the U.S. Justice Department possesses not just criminal tools but civil enforcement tools. Respondent is entitled to show, as a defense to the allegations in the Charges, that his superiors at the Justice Department engaged in a dereliction of duty in how they approached the election irregularities involved in the 2020 election.”
