{"id":2210383,"date":"2024-04-01T07:17:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-01T11:17:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ex-doj-officials-disbarment-trial-underscores-central-challenge-of-trump-jan-6-case\/"},"modified":"2024-04-01T07:17:47","modified_gmt":"2024-04-01T11:17:47","slug":"ex-doj-officials-disbarment-trial-underscores-central-challenge-of-trump-jan-6-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ex-doj-officials-disbarment-trial-underscores-central-challenge-of-trump-jan-6-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Trial to disbar former DOJ official highlights key challenge in Trump Jan. 6 case"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fex-doj-officials-disbarment-trial-underscores-central-challenge-of-trump-jan-6-case%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2210383&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A recent disciplinary hearing involving former DOJ \u2064official Jeffrey Clark and his \u2064potential disbarment sheds light on the legal complexities surrounding the allegations of crimes related to the \u2063buildup to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.\u2064 The proceedings reveal the challenges faced by prosecutors in proving misconduct by former President Trump\u200c and his associates \u200cin\u200d the aftermath of the 2020 election.\u200d The disciplinary hearing for ex-DOJ official\u200c Jeffrey Clark and his possible disbarment highlights the legal intricacies linked to accusations of offenses in connection to the events leading up \u200bto \u200bthe Jan. 6 Capitol riot. This process underscores the obstacles prosecutors encounter\u2064 in \u2064demonstrating wrongdoing by former President Trump and his cohorts post the 2020 election.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>A disciplinary hearing this week for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Donald Trump<\/a>\u2018s ex-<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/justice-department\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Department of Justice<\/a> official <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/2938543\/trump-doj-official-faces-disbarment-2020-election\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Jeffrey Clark<\/a> showcased the high bar prosecutors must reach in their effort to prove alleged crimes the former president and others are accused of committing in the buildup to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/january-6\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Jan. 6<\/a> Capitol riot.<\/p>\n<p>Clark, 56, is fighting to avoid disbarment in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/washington-dc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Washington, D.C.\">Washington, D.C.<\/a>, as he faces Board on Professional Responsibility proceedings over allegations of dishonest conduct in the aftermath of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/2020-elections\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"2020 presidential election\">2020 presidential election<\/a>. The disbarment trial continued for a third day on Thursday with a witness called by Clark\u2019s defense, Donald Elliot, a Yale legal expert who said punishing the former DOJ official would set a dangerous and \u201cchilling\u201d precedent.<\/p>\n<p>Elliot, who also served as an assistant administrator and general counsel for the Environmental Protection Agency from 1989 to 1991, said Clark\u2019s potential disbarment would have a \u201cdevastating effect on dialogue that goes on within government agencies,\u201d a point that also highlighted the onerous fight special counsel <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/jack-smith\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Jack Smith\">Jack Smith<\/a> faces to convict Trump for an alleged attempt to subvert the 2020 election results.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>Former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark attends an event hosted by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) at the Capitol in Washington, June 13, 2023. (AP Photo\/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The unprecedented nature of the Jan. 6 riot and the events leading up to it have left prosecutors, courts, and bar associations with complicated questions about how to hold Trump and some of his associates accountable. Conduct that critics have described as an attack on democracy has not always fit neatly into existing categories of crime, a reality that has introduced an enormous amount of subjectivity into proceedings. <\/p>\n<p>That subjectivity was elevated even further on Thursday when Clark\u2019s attorney, Harry MacDougald, stated that \u201cthere was a period on Jan. 3, [2021] when [Clark] was acting attorney general until the president changed his mind later that day.\u201d Trump only called off his plans after ranking White House and justice officials threatened a mass resignation at an Oval Office meeting that day, leading many of those former officials to testify later that they believed Clark was never promoted.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike individual Jan. 6 riot defendants, some of whom have pleaded guilty for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/1527442\/capitol-rioter-who-hit-officer-gets-over-three-years-in-prison\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">obviously illegal<\/a> actions taken that day, Trump and close allies engaged in conduct after the 2020 election that may fall into a legal gray area, straddling somewhere between the expression of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/2943380\/first-amendment-protects-trump-from-fani-williss-election-interference-charges-attorney-argues\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">protected political opinions<\/a> and the unlawful attempt to upend the Electoral College vote.<\/p>\n<p>For Clark, who led the DOJ\u2019s environmental division from 2018 to 2021, the gray area in which he operated is necessary for a functioning DOJ, according to Elliot.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cBecause I think it\u2019s important that we have the free and open exchange of ideas within agencies \u2026 I think about many ideas that are ultimately not accepted,\u201d Elliot said Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut I think that \u2026 one of the traditions in the United States is that even false ideas are protected when they contribute to the debate,\u201d Elliot added. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Yale expert\u2019s testimony came after two days of testimony from witnesses brought by Washington, D.C., disciplinary counsel Hamilton Fox III, who relied on former Trump administration acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen on Wednesday to testify that Clark\u2019s actions in the weeks following the 2020 election were outside the scope of his role at the DOJ. Rosen assumed his role on Dec. 24, 2020, days after former Attorney General Bill Barr resigned from his post.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>Steven Engel, former Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel, from left, Jeffrey Rosen, former acting Attorney General, and Richard Donoghue, former acting Deputy Attorney General, talk during a break as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol continues to reveal its findings of a yearlong investigation, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, June 23, 2022.\u00a0(AP Photo\/Jacquelyn Martin)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Friction between Clark and his superiors Rosen, along with Rosen\u2019s acting deputy Richard Donoghue, reached a new level during Jan. 2. and Jan. 3, 2021, meetings at the DOJ main facility and White House, Rosen said Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Rosen, who was one of several ranking officials who threatened to resign if Clark was elevated to acting attorney general, said he told Clark on Jan. 2, 2021, that he was \u201creally way outside his lane\u201d by having contacts with Trump without top DOJ officials present, and for seeking access to a classified intelligence briefing <a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/US\/doj-officials-rejected-colleagues-request-intervene-georgias-election\/story?id=79243198\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"related\">related<\/a> to foreign election interference issues. He also said he became disappointed when Clark admitted he would have accepted an offer from Trump, which Rosen contends never materialized, to take Rosen\u2019s place as acting attorney general.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis was not his role or responsibility at the department,\u201d Rosen said of Clark, calling his contacts with the then-president \u201ctotally improper.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahimi told the <em>Washington Examiner <\/em>that<em> <\/em>Rosen\u2019s standpoint is valid in part because \u201cthere\u2019s actually a written document that\u2019s required before someone can be acting attorney general.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEveryone else who was threatening to resign at the time, none of them did resign. So that would lead everyone to believe and likely testify that the appointment never happened,\u201d Rahimi said, adding that Clark\u2019s lawyer \u201cmight be saying all sorts of things\u201d because Clark has so far invoked his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination 25 times in response to Fox\u2019s interrogations.<\/p>\n<p>However, one of Trump\u2019s top attorneys in his federal and New York cases, Todd Blanche, instructed Clark to \u201cmaintain President Trump\u2019s executive privilege and other related privileges, including law enforcement privilege, attorney client privilege, and deliberative process privilege,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/trump-lawyers-affirm-executive-privilege-of-former-doj-official-fighting-to-keep-d-c-bar-license.amp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"according\">according<\/a> to a letter sent to the former senior DOJ official on Jan. 12.<\/p>\n<p>Mike Davis, the former chief counsel for nominations to then-Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA), told the <em>Washington Examiner <\/em>that Rosen\u2019s point of view about Clark\u2019s role in the DOJ sets a \u201cvery dangerous\u201d precedent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe fatal flaw in the bar prosecution against Jeff Clark is they don\u2019t think he reported to the president of the United States, and he absolutely reported to the president \u2026 just like every other employee in the executive branch, especially a senior Senate-confirmed officer in the Justice Department,\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n<p>Davis\u2019s concerns were touched on during testimony on Tuesday by former White House counsel Patrick Philbin, who said there were many internal disagreements over what had been done and what should be done about alleged irregularities in the 2020 election results in Georgia. He also said he believed that Clark acted with sincerity, that Clark \u201cfelt essentially that he had a duty, where you think something wrong is happening \u2026 and he was the one who was sort of put on the spot and had to do something about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fox alleges Clark violated rules of professional conduct in part by drafting a letter to Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) and state legislative leaders, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/21087991-jeffrey-clark-draft-letter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"according\">according<\/a> to the draft letter dated Dec. 28, 2020, which claimed to have identified \u201csignificant concerns\u201d that affected the outcome of the 2020 election in several states. While the letter was circulated to other officials in the DOJ, Clark ultimately did not send it after Donoghue, Rosen\u2019s deputy, shot down his request to sign the document days after it was drafted.<\/p>\n<p>Clark is an unindicted co-conspirator in the four-count federal indictment against Trump in Washington, D.C., which accuses the former president of plotting an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election. He was charged alongside Trump in August last year in the sweeping Fulton County, Georgia, racketeering indictment, which accuses him of violating the state\u2019s racketeering laws and criminal attempts to make false statements in writings.<\/p>\n<p>Trump stands accused in Washington, D.C., of a conspiracy to defraud the United States and a conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, as well as one count of obstruction and an attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and one count of conspiracy to \u201coppress, threaten and intimidate\u201d people in their right to vote in an election, according to the federal indictment. Notably, none of the federal counts directly match the ones he faces in Georgia, which include several conspiracy counts such as \u201ccommit filing false documents,\u201d and \u201ccommit false statements and writings,\u201d to name a few. He has pleaded not guilty in all four of his criminal cases.<\/p>\n<p>The different approaches by federal and Georgia prosecutors demonstrate the complexity of crafting concrete charges for conduct that skirted a legal line the courts have never had to draw before.<\/p>\n<p>While proceedings are on hold in Trump\u2019s Washington, D.C., case until the Supreme Court rules on a core presidential immunity question, the conversations in Clark\u2019s disbarment hearing provided a narrow window into the types of questioning that could come up in an eventual trial against Trump, and the difficulty that prosecutors might face in proving their case.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>For example, Clark\u2019s attorney pressed Rosen during the hearing Wednesday on whether officials at the DOJ actually investigated the specific concerns Clark raised in the weeks after November 2020 about election integrity issues, such as a question about signature matching on ballots cast in Fulton County, Georgia. <\/p>\n<p>After a member of the D.C. Bar overruled an objection to that line of inquiry from Fox, the disciplinary attorney leading the case for Clark\u2019s debarment, Rosen acknowledged that he did not know whether the DOJ under his leadership investigated every allegation of election irregularity. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cI cannot tell you who specifically looked at which contention or allegation or if there is some contention that they didn\u2019t look at,\u201d said Rosen.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>Attorney Harry MacDougald, representing defendant Jeffrey Clark speaks during a hearing on the Georgia election interference case, Friday, March, 1, 2024, in Atlanta. The hearing is to determine whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be removed from the case because of a relationship with Nathan Wade, special prosecutor she hired in the election interference case against former President Donald Trump. (AP Photo\/Alex Slitz, Pool)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cSo the answer is you don\u2019t know?\u201d MacDougald, Clark\u2019s lawyer, asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor the reasons expressed,\u201d said Rosen, who also declined at one point during his testimony to answer whether he truly believed Clark or Trump\u2019s concerns about purported election fraud were sincere.<\/p>\n<p>Rosen\u2019s testimony underscored the difficulty of proving that the Trump allies who raised concerns about election integrity, none of which have since been supported by evidence, did so in bad faith or in knowing violation of the law.<\/p>\n<p>Clark\u2019s hearing comes as former Trump campaign attorney <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/2437675\/john-eastman-defends-2020-election-conduct-in-interview-ahead-of-arraignment\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">John Eastman<\/a> was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/2942349\/judge-rules-ex-trump-lawyer-john-eastman-should-be-disbarred-over-efforts-overturn-2020-election\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">recommended for disbarment<\/a> on Wednesday by a California judge, prompting the lawyer and former law school dean to vow an appeal to a review court for the California State Bar.<\/p>\n<p>But unlike Eastman\u2019s disbarment proceedings, which began last June, Trump\u2019s legal team did not intervene in those proceedings like they have for Clark, such as Blanche\u2019s Jan. 12 letter advising Clark to exert \u201cexecutive privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As part of that invocation, Clark sought but ultimately failed to block testimony this week from Philbin, Rosen, and former aide Ken Klukowski. Merril Hirsh, the D.C. Bar panel\u2019s chairman, rejected such claims in a Feb. 28 decision, finding Blanche merely instructed Clark to uphold Trump\u2019s privilege but did not purport to block other witnesses from testifying.<\/p>\n<p>While Rosen and Philbin appeared at the hearing this week, Klukowski was notably absent from the proceedings despite being called by Fox to testify, and he did not respond to multiple requests from the <em>Washington Examiner <\/em>for comment.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The panel\u2019s decision could determine Clark\u2019s chances to be selected for a high position in a potential second Trump administration. Hirsh said the proceedings could be concluded by next week.<\/p>\n<p>Like Eastman, Clark will have the chance to appeal if the panel ultimately recommends him for disbarment.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This week&#8217;s hearing for ex-DOJ official Jeffrey Clark, linked to Trump, highlighted the legal hurdles faced by prosecutors alleging crimes related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Clark, 56, is contesting disbarment in Washington amid efforts to prove accusations against the former president and others<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2633,"featured_media":2210384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/AP20258675748118-1024x683.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2210383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/AP20258675748118-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2210383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2633"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2210383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2210383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2210384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2210383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2210383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2210383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}