Ex-Trump official says DOJ investigating him over potential felony violations
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Jeffrey Clark speaking during a news conference in September 2020. Photo: Susan Walsh/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Jeffrey Clark, a former Trump Department of Justice official, told the D.C. Bar that the DOJ is investigating him for felony violations involving false statements, conspiracy and obstruction.
Driving the news: Clark said in a filing made public Wednesday that federal investigators seized his phone and other electronic devices while executing a search warrant on his home in June.
- CNN first reported on the filing.
The search had been known at the time, but which federal agency conducted it and what the investigators may have been looking for was not.
- Clark was an assistant attorney general who was supportive of Trump's efforts to overturn the election, and the former president sought to install Clark as acting attorney general after former Attorney General Bill Barr resigned.
- The D.C. Bar's Office of Disciplinary Counsel filed a petition in June to launch disciplinary proceedings against Clark for engaging in dishonesty and interfering with the administration of justice.
What they're saying: Lawyers representing Clark wrote in the filing that on June 20, "approximately a dozen armed agents of the Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General executed a criminal search warrant at [Mr. Clark’s] home at around 7 a.m. and seized his electronic devices."
- Clark asked the bar to defer his disciplinary proceedings because of the ongoing Justice Department investigation, the House select committee's probe into the Jan. 6 Capitol attack and the Fulton County, Georgia, special grand jury investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
- The D.C. Bar's Office of Disciplinary Counsel recommended the disciplinary proceedings deferral be denied.
- Axios asked the Justice Department to comment on Clark's filing, and it did not immediately respond.
The big picture: Separately, Clark repeatedly refused to cooperate with the Jan. 6 committee's investigative subpoenas, and the committee recommended holding him in contempt of Congress.
- He was central to the committee's fifth public hearing, which looked at Trump's efforts to pressure the Justice Department.
- Clark is also of interest to the Fulton County investigation over an unsent letter addressed to Georgia officials that falsely claimed the Justice Department had “identified significant concerns” that would affect the state’s 2020 election results.
Go deeper: Jan. 6 panel's subpoena yields "thousands" of Secret Service records
Read the filing:
