WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Legal licensing authorities in Washington have initiated a disciplinary case against Jeffrey Clark, a former Trump administration Justice Department official who promoted the former president’s false election fraud claims and who is now under investigation.
Clark “attempted to engage in conduct involving dishonesty” and “attempted to engage in conduct that would seriously interfere with the administration of justice,” a petition filed by the D.C. Bar’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel and released on Friday said.
The request, dated June 29 and received by the Bar of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals on July 19, was made public on Friday.
The filing states that disciplinary proceedings being launched are based on violations of standards of conduct governing the practice of law in Washington.
Clark and his attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.
The U.S. House of Representatives committee probing the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol spotlighted how former President Donald Trump sought to replace Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen with Clark, who was a Justice Department environmental lawyer, at a hearing in June.
The Justice Department is carrying out its own investigation into the deadly Jan. 6 attack when Trump supporters violently mobbed the U.S. Capitol as lawmakers and Vice President Mike Pence sought to formally recognize Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential win. Clark said federal law enforcement agents had raided his home the day after the House committee hearing.
Clark was deposed by the committee but repeatedly invoked his legal right not to answer questions that might be self-incriminating under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch in Washington; Writing by Susan Heavey and Katharine Jackson; Editing by Tim Ahmann and Matthew Lewis)
