By MARY CLARE JALONICK
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Home panel investigating the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol revolt voted Wednesday to pursue contempt prices towards Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Division official who refused to reply the committee’s questions — however the panel agreed to let him come again for an additional strive.
The committee voted 9-0 to pursue legal prices towards Clark, who aligned with Donald Trump forward of the violent assault because the then-president tried to overturn his election defeat. Clark appeared for a deposition final month however refused to be interviewed, citing Trump’s authorized efforts to dam the committee’s investigation.
The Democratic chairman of the Jan. 6 panel, Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, mentioned it had obtained a last-minute notification from Clark’s lawyer that he now desires to invoke his Fifth Modification proper towards self-incrimination. Thompson mentioned the lawyer had supplied “no particular foundation for that assertion” and “no details that may permit the committee to contemplate it,” however the committee will give Clark a second probability at a deposition scheduled for Saturday.
“That is, for my part, a last-ditch try to delay the Choose Committee’s proceedings,” Thompson mentioned. “Nonetheless, a Fifth Modification privilege assertion is a weighty one. Regardless that Mr. Clark beforehand had the chance to make these claims on the report, the Choose Committee will present him one other probability to take action.”
Thompson mentioned the committee was nonetheless continuing with the contempt vote “as that is simply step one of the contempt course of.”
The advice of legal contempt prices towards Clark will now go to the complete Home for a vote, although that’s anticipated to be delayed till after the Saturday deposition. If the Home votes to carry Clark in contempt, the Justice Division will then determine whether or not to prosecute.
Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the panel’s vice chairwoman, mentioned the committee would think about accepting Clark’s assertion of his Fifth Modification rights if Clark says he believes that answering questions on his interactions with Trump and others might incriminate him.
“It is very important be aware, nonetheless, that Mr. Clark will not be excused from testifying just because President Trump is making an attempt to cover behind inapplicable claims of govt privilege,” Cheney mentioned.
Trump, who informed his supporters to “struggle like hell” the morning of Jan. 6, has sued to dam the committee’s work and has tried to claim govt privilege over paperwork and interviews, arguing that his non-public conversations and actions on the time needs to be shielded from public view. As the present officeholder, President Joe Biden has thus far rejected Trump’s claims.
In a transcript of Clark’s aborted Nov. 5 interview launched by the panel Tuesday, workers and members of the committee tried to influence the previous Justice Division official to reply questions on his function as Trump pushed the division to research his false allegations of widespread fraud within the election. Clark had turn out to be an ally of the previous president as different Justice officers pushed again on the baseless claims.
However Clark’s legal professional, Harry MacDougald, mentioned throughout the interview that Clark was protected not solely by Trump’s assertions of govt privilege but in addition by a number of different privileges MacDougald claimed Clark needs to be afforded. The committee rejected these arguments, and MacDougald and Clark walked out of the interview after round 90 minutes of discussions.
In response to a report earlier this yr by the Senate Judiciary Committee, which interviewed a number of of Clark’s colleagues, Trump’s stress on the Justice Division culminated in a dramatic White Home assembly at which the president ruminated about elevating Clark to legal professional normal. He didn’t accomplish that after a number of aides threatened to resign.
Regardless of Trump’s false claims a couple of stolen election — the first motivation for the violent mob that broke into the Capitol and interrupted the certification of Biden’s victory — the outcomes had been confirmed by state officers and upheld by the courts. Trump’s personal legal professional normal, William Barr, mentioned in December 2020 that the Justice Division discovered no proof of widespread fraud that would have modified the outcomes.
Thompson wrote in Clark’s subpoena that the committee’s probe “has revealed credible proof that you simply tried to contain the Division of Justice in efforts to interrupt the peaceable switch of energy” and his efforts “risked involving the Division of Justice in actions that lacked evidentiary basis and threatened to subvert the rule of regulation.”
Lawmakers on the Jan. 6 panel have vowed to carry any witness who doesn’t comply in contempt as they examine the worst assault on the Capitol in two centuries. On Wednesday, Thompson mentioned Clark has left them with no different alternative.
“He selected this path,” Thompson mentioned. “He knew what penalties he may face if he did so. This committee and this Home should insist on accountability within the face of that form of defiance.”
The Justice Division has signaled it’s keen to pursue the committee’s contempt prices, indicting longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon earlier this month on two counts of legal contempt.
Lawyer Basic Merrick Garland mentioned then that Bannon’s indictment displays the division’s “steadfast dedication” to the rule of regulation after Bannon outright defied a subpoena from the committee and refused to cooperate.
Clark’s case may very well be extra sophisticated since he did seem for his deposition and, in contrast to Bannon, was a Trump administration official on Jan. 6. However members of the committee argued that Clark had no foundation to refuse questioning, particularly since they meant to ask about some issues that didn’t contain direct interactions with Trump and wouldn’t fall beneath the previous president’s claims of govt privilege.
The committee had additionally thought of a looking for contempt towards a 3rd witness, former White Home Chief of Employees Mark Meadows, however held off this week after Meadows agreed to cooperate with the panel on a restricted foundation. The previous Republican congressman from North Carolina has now offered some paperwork to the panel and is predicted to take a seat for a deposition as quickly as subsequent week, although his lawyer has indicated he’ll decline to reply particular questions on his conversations with the president.
Thompson mentioned Meadows has offered paperwork to the panel and can quickly be interviewed, however the committee “will proceed to evaluate his diploma of compliance.”
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Related Press author Eric Tucker contributed to this report.
