Who is Jeffrey Clark?
ENVIRONMENTAL lawyer Jeffrey Clark was an unknown name until he was pulled into the spotlight for the January 6 investigation.
Former President Donald Trump wanted to bring Clark in to take over the Justice Department after he falsely claimed the 2020 election had been stolen.
Who is Jeffrey Clark?
Jeffrey Clark is an environmental lawyer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and graduated with a Master's degree in urban affairs and public policy from the University of Delaware.
He went on to receive his Law degree from George University Law Center and got his first job as an economics analyst for the State of Delaware’s Department of Finance.
Clark moved to the Department of Justice as an environmental lawyer and was nominated by Trump to serve as the Assistant Attorney General of the Environment and Natural Resources Division in 2017.
Three years later, Trump promoted Clark to the Acting Assistant Attorney General position in the Justice Department's civil division.
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However, when the 2020 election rolled around and President Joe Biden beat out Trump in the election, he allegedly worked to push out his acting Attorney General, Jeffrey A. Rosen, and replace him with Clark, a so-called Trump loyalist.
Clark has repeatedly denied the claims that he worked with Trump to try to oust Rosen.
What was Jeffrey Clark's role in the 2020 election?
Sen Scott Perry (R-Pennsylvania) introduced Trump to Clark, who showed his loyalty to the former president who claimed the election had been stolen from him.
According to testimony from the January 6 hearings, Trump was working to oust Rosen from his position for not supporting his baseless claims of election fraud.
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He reportedly worked with Clark to put him in the position of attorney general but hit a roadblock when the members of the Department of Justice threatened to resign in an informal pact.
“My practice is to rely on sworn testimony to assess disputed factual claims,” Clark told the when he denied the allegations against him.
“There was a candid discussion of options and pros and cons with the president. It is unfortunate that those who were part of a privileged legal conversation would comment in public about such internal deliberations, while also distorting any discussions.”
However, Deputy Attorney General, Richard P. Donoghue, presented testimony that he had attended a round table discussion with Trump that Rosen and Steven Engel, the head of the Justice Department’s office of legal counsel, also attended.
“I made the point that Jeff Clark is not even competent to serve as the Attorney General," reported that Donoghue told the January 6 committee.
He continued, saying during that meeting he said, "[Clark’s] never been a criminal attorney. He’s never conducted a criminal investigation in his life. He’s never been in front of a grand jury, much less a trial jury.
“You’re an environmental lawyer. How about you go back to your office, and we’ll call you when there’s an oil spill.”
Why was Jeffrey Clark's home searched?
Federal agents arrived at Clark's home in the early hours of June 22, 2022, pulling him out of the door, still in his pajamas.
Clark's electronics were seized and an investigation was conducted inside his home in an effort to uncover those who may have been involved in the January 6 riots.
The Center for Renewing America, where Clark works, confirmed the search occurred in a statement to , calling it a “weaponization of government.”
“The new era of criminalizing politics is worsening in the US. Yesterday more than a dozen DOJ law enforcement officials searched Jeff Clark’s house in a pre-dawn raid, put him in the streets in his pajamas, and took his electronic devices.
"All because Jeff saw fit to investigate voter fraud. This is not America, folks,” the group’s president Russ Vought, said in a statement.
He added, “The weaponization of government must end. Let me be very clear. We stand by Jeff and so must all patriots in this country.”
Portions of Donoghue's deposition were released by the January 6 committee in March, revealing his claims that Clark was "advocating for change in leadership that would put him at the top of the department."
He said this was in stark contrast to the others in the room who argued it would be a "disaster."
“[Clark] repeatedly said to the president that, if he was put in the seat, he would conduct real investigations that would, in his view, uncover widespread fraud; he would send out the letter that he had drafted.
"And that this was a last opportunity to sort of set things straight with this defective election, and that he could do it, and he had the intelligence and the will and the desire to pursue these matters in the way that the president thought most appropriate.”
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Trump ultimately did not move Clark into Rosen's position, but the New York Times reported that he was still being considered a part of the investigation into the riots.
Federal Agents have not said why Clark's home was being investigated.