Washington Despite his superiors' efforts, former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark remained adamant that the 2020 election had irregularities and fraud, which needed further investigation, on the second day of his disciplinary hearing.
Former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen testified Wednesday before the three-member Board of Responsibility that he and Richard Donoghue, who was acting No. 2, met with Clark multiple times after the 2020 presidential election to persuade him to change his voter fraud stance.
Clark was accused of dishonesty after then-President Donald Trump's 2020 presidential election defeat and attempt to reverse it. Clark said that the department was examining “various irregularities” and had found “significant concerns” that may have affected the election. He tried to convince Rosen and Donoghue to mail the letter to Georgia
Men asked Clark why he was pressing a subject outside his purview as acting head of the department's civil division at one meeting.Clark was evasive. He simply spoke his opinions. "He liked them," Rosen added.
The two tried to explain why the department found that fraud and wrongdoing did not lose Trump the election. Clark had spoken with Trump, violating department regulation on White House interaction, the men learnt. Rosen reported that Clark answered, “Well, I thought these were good ideas, but if you don't like them, then OK.” Rosen and Donoghue believed Clark understood and closed the matter.
Rosen shifted course and gave Clark a confidential briefing from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on an accusation. Rosen and Donoghue consented and suggested he talk to a Georgia U.S. Attorney about his claims.
He had expressed interest in the ODNI report, so I thought that was a way to both prevent him from giving poor advice to the president and perhaps to see why the rest of the department had the position we had,” Rosen stated. Clark maintained his condemnation of the findings. He ignored the US Attorney.
Trump pondered removing Rosen and replacing him with Clark. Senior Justice Department leaders and White House lawyers warned they would resign if Trump did that. Most of the day was Rosen's testimony. At the hearing, Hamilton Fox III, the disciplinary counsel, called Clark to speak against the concerns of Clark's attorneys, who said their client would invoke privilege.
Clark responded to inquiries about his entrance into the Washington, D.C., bar and his job history before joining the Justice Department. During over 30 minutes of Fox questioning on the letter and Clark's role after the election, he invoked executive, law-enforcement, deliberative-process, attorney-client, and Fifth Amendment privileges.
After Fox's questioning, board member Patricia Mathews questioned Clark's client for his attorney-client privilege invocation. Clark replied, "President Trump." Executive branch chief. The single head of Article Two, the US executive branch.”
His lawyer advised Clark to invoke his privileges throughout questioning. Georgia is prosecuting Clark for his part in overturning the election. The defendants include Trump. Clark might be disbarred. He can challenge any action in the D.C. Court of Appeals. His attorney, Harry MacDougald, claimed the action against his client for typical lawyer-client interaction will chill the profession.
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