A former US Department of Justice official central to Donald Trump’s attempts to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election was captured on police video outside his home in a shirt and boxer shorts as investigators searched the property on 22 June.
Law enforcement investigated Jeffrey Clark’s home one day before the House select committee investigating the attack on the US Capitol heard testimony about the former president’s pressure campaign to reverse his election defeat.
Following the search, Mr Clark told Fox News that “12 agents and two Fairfax County police officers went into my house, searched it for three and a half hours and “took all of the electronics from my house.”
Police in Fairfax County, Virginia searched his home as part of an “ongoing fraud investigation” during his time at the Justice Department, according to a police report obtained by CNN.
The congressional probe follows a parallel Justice Department investigation into the events surrounding the Capitol attack, which Mr Clark has compared to “Stasi-like conduct,” referring to former Cold War-era East German secret police, as multiple former officials were served with subpoenas.
“This is highly politicized,” he told Fox News. “With the hearing that was pointed at me and targeted at me today ... it looks highly coincidental.”
His conduct under the Trump administration in 2020 and 2021 was the focus of a recent House select committee hearing where several former Justice Department officials testified about his alleged attempts to amplify then-President Trump’s baseless narrative that massive voter fraud had manipulated the outcome of the election.
Mr Clark proposed using the weight of the federal government, including the position of acting attorney general, to pressure state legislatures to reject election results and install Mr Trump as the victor despite his definitive loss to Joe Biden.
He proposed sending a letter to officials in swing states that Mr Trump lost to inform them that the department had “identified significant concerns” about the outcome, raising false claims from Mr Trump and his allies and right-wing media personalities, as well as urging states to appoint a “a separate slate of electors” to support Mr Trump to be approved in Congress, according to testimony.
The former president was reportedly considering elevating Mr Clark as acting attorney general, prompting senior officials to threaten their resignation, days before the attack on the Capitol on 6 January, 2021, when a joint session of Congress convened to certifiy the results.
The committee subpoenaed Mr Clark for testimony and documents last year. He appeared before the commitee in February and reportedly asserted his right against self-incrimination more than 100 times.
