Ex-Trump Justice Dept official appears before U.S. House Jan. 6
committee
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[February 03, 2022]
By Patricia Zengerle and Sarah N. Lynch
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A former high-ranking
Justice Department official appeared on Wednesday before the
congressional committee probing the assault on the U.S. Capitol for
questions about his bid to bolster former President Donald Trump's false
claims of election fraud.
Jeffrey Bossert Clark was seen by TV cameras entering a room inside a
U.S. House of Representatives office building where the select committee
investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack takes its depositions. A
committee spokesman declined to comment.
Clark's attorney Harry MacDougald declined to comment on Wednesday's
deposition.
Clark is among a growing list of Trump supporters who have balked at
requests to cooperate with the investigation, though the panel has
scored some legal victories over Trump's efforts to keep certain
government records under wraps.
The National Archives said it would be providing some of former Vice
President Mike Pence's records to the committee.
The committee has so far interviewed about 400 witnesses, issued more
than 60 subpoenas and obtained more than 50,000 pages of records.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Feb/03/images/ads/current/fricke_sda_LUAL_2021.png)
Committee investigators on Wednesday also interviewed by video Stewart
Rhodes, the detained leader of the right-wing Oath Keepers group, his
attorney told CBS. Rhodes was arrested and charged with seditious
conspiracy last month.
Clark, who served as the acting head of the Justice Department's Civil
Division, drafted a Dec. 28, 2020, letter to Georgia state lawmakers
that falsely claimed the department had found "significant concerns that
may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple States,
including the State of Georgia."
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![](../images/020322pics/news_h49.jpg)
Acting Assistant U.S. Attorney General Jeffrey Clark speaks next to
Deputy U.S. Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen at a news conference,
where they announced that Purdue Pharma LP has agreed to plead
guilty to criminal charges over the handling of its addictive
prescription opioid OxyContin, at the Justice Department in
Washington, U.S., October 21, 2020. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/Pool/File
Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Feb/03/images/ads/current/chicagost_lda_LUAL_2021.png) The draft letter urged state
legislators to convene a special session to overturn the election
results there.
Clark tried to persuade former Acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen
and former Acting Deputy Attorney General Rich Donoghue to send the
letter, but they refused.
Rosen and Donoghue later told U.S. Senate investigators that Clark
also privately met with Trump to lobby the then-president to oust
Rosen so Clark could be installed as acting attorney general, paving
the way for him to send the letter and launch voter fraud
investigations.
Clark in November declined to answer the committee's questions about
his legal advice to Trump, saying such discussions were privileged.
The panel voted on Dec. 1, 2021, to seek contempt of Congress
charges against Clark, but it has not sought a vote of the full
House after Clark's attorney said his client intends to invoke his
right against self-incrimination, protected by the Fifth Amendment
of the U.S. Constitution.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Sarah N. Lynch;
Additional reporting by Jan Wolfe; Editing by Scott Malone, Jonathan
Oatis and Alistair Bell)
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