WASHINGTON—Three days into former Department of Justice (DOJ) official Jeff Clark’s disciplinary hearing, his lead counsel confirmed a detail about the events leading up to Jan. 6, 2021.
It is well known that then-President Donald Trump considered elevating Mr. Clark to the post of acting attorney general when other department officials refused to aid his efforts to contest the 2020 election in Georgia. But it wasn’t clear if President Trump officially made the appointment. According to Mr. Clark’s lawyer, Harry MacDougald, the president had made the appointment but it only lasted a few hours.
“There was a period on January 3, where he was the acting attorney general until the President changed his mind later that day,” Mr. MacDougald said on March 28. He made the assertion during Mr. Clark’s D.C. bar disciplinary hearing, in which he faces sanctions or disbarment.
It remains unclear at exactly what time on Jan. 3, 2021, the change in leadership was made, but it was reversed by the end of the day when President Trump decided against appointing Mr. Clark as the new acting attorney general.
Letter
Mr. Clark’s temporary appointment arose from an intradepartmental conflict at the DOJ over a letter he drafted to Georgia voting officials following the 2020 election. The letter, which was ultimately rejected by Mr. Clark’s superiors and never sent, requested the officials convene an emergency session with two sets of electors: one set to cast its votes for President Donald Trump and the other set for then-candidate Joe Biden.
The letter also stated the DOJ was investigating alleged election fraud and irregularities in Georgia’s Fulton County. Biden had been declared the winner of Georgia’s electoral votes by a razor-thin margin of just over 12,000 votes.
On the stand, Mr. Donoghue said the letter was unpopular among DOJ officials. He testified that White House Counsel Pat Cipollone warned the letter “is a murder-suicide pact.”
Then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen refused to send the letter to Georgia. Mr. Donoghue testified that in a later exchange with President Trump, the president told him that perhaps new leadership was needed at the DOJ to which Mr. Donoghue replied, “That’s fine Mr. President, you should have the leadership that you want.”
On the stand, Mr. Donoghue described packing up his office, saying “I assumed we were about to be fired by tweet.”
He said the conflict came to a head on the evening of Jan. 3, 2021, in a hotly-contested Oval Office meeting filled with “raised voices” and “impolite speech.” President Trump decided to reverse course on the letter and the appointment of Mr. Clark after a number of DOJ officials present at the meeting threatened to resign.
Although the letter was never sent, it came to light when it was leaked to The New York Times after President Biden took office.
The letter forms the basis of the D.C. bar’s disciplinary charges against Mr. Clark. He is accused of “attempted dishonesty” and “attempted serious interference with the administration of justice” over the draft letter.
Mr. Clark’s attorney has said the charges are ”unheard of,” and throughout the hearing emphasized the novelty of disciplinary action being brought over “a draft letter that recommended a change in policy or position where that document was not approved, and never even left the office.”
The disciplinary hearing is expected to conclude by April 5.
