A federal judge, Steve Jones, has denied the request by former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark to move the handling of criminal allegations against him in Georgia to federal court. That’s a major blow to the contention that Clark’s behavior that drove the charges was appropriately within the scope of his federal responsibilities.
Clark specifically pushed for an official letter from the federal Justice Department to Georgia state authorities that would’ve promoted baseless notions of widespread election fraud and the idea of the state getting behind a purported alternate slate of electors that supported Trump, despite Biden’s victory in Georgia. He’s now charged in allegations of election interference.
Trump allies in Georgia and elsewhere ultimately moved forward with their sham slates of electors despite what proved to be the lack of official backing, claiming in some instances they were simply helping keep legal options open for the now ex-president as he challenged his 2020 loss in court. Even that explanation isn’t necessarily believable, since many election challenges had already failed by the time the legitimate electoral college members were casting their formal votes.
Jones found that Clark’s team had simply failed to present meaningful evidence that the then-president and his authorities were substantively behind what the then-official was doing. “Other than his counsel’s own vague and uncertain assertions, the Court has no evidence that the President directed Clark to work on election-related matters generally or to write the December 28 letter to the Georgia State Officials on their election procedures,” the judge said.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who brought the underlying case, had earlier condemned Clark’s arguments. “In short, the defendant sought to peddle a lie and place the imprimatur of the Department of Justice upon that lie,” a filing from Willis’ team said. “He was told by the chief officers of the DOJ that his claim was a lie, that he did not have authority to make the claim at all, and that it was not the DOJ’s role to make such a claim, but he persisted in attempting to send the letter containing his claim anyway.”
