A new report in the D.C. Bar’s ethics case against Jeffrey Clark revealed what potential crimes the DOJ’s watchdog is considering in its investigation into Clark: false statements, conspiracy and obstruction of justice.
Clark is, of course, the ex-Justice Department official whom Trump tried to install as acting attorney general and who aimed to use the agency’s power to overturn the 2020 election.
The D.C. Bar report, which was first reported by CNN’s Tierney Sneed and made public on Wednesday, was produced by a committee of the D.C. Bar’s Board on Professional Responsibility. It was issued in response to Clark’s request for deferral in the ethics case.
The ethics committee noted that in the deferral request filing, Clark’s lawyers said that “approximately a dozen armed agents of the Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General” had executed a criminal search warrant at Clark’s home on June 20.
According to the ethics committee, Clark’s legal team said the search was tied to a federal investigation into false statements, conspiracy, and obstruction.
The Justice Department’s inspector general is currently investigating Clark over his role in then-President Donald Trump’s scheme to install him as acting attorney general and use his authority to boost Trump’s lies about the 2020 election and block Joe Biden’s electoral victory. The scheme would’ve involved Clark sending letters to multiple swing states, informing them that the DOJ found their election results illegitimate due to (non-existent) massive voter fraud. Clark also planned to recommend that states appoint new, fake Trump electors for Congress to rubber stamp on Jan. 6.
The plot fell apart when multiple high-ranking DOJ officials threatened to resign if Trump installed Clark as acting attorney general, but Clark remained active for some time in pushing the fake Trump electors scheme.
Federal agents searched Clark’s home on June 23, though it remains unclear which investigation that particular search was related to.
Read the document below:
