By Patricia Zengerle and Sarah N. Lynch
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Ex-U.S. Justice Department official Jeffrey Bossert Clark appeared on Wednesday before the congressional probe of the assault on the Capitol for questions about his bid to bolster former President Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud.
Clark was spotted entering a room inside a U.S. House of Representatives office building where the select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack conducts its depositions. A committee spokesman declined to comment.
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.”
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 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; Editing by Scott Malone and Nick Zieminski)
