Feds Search Home Of Ex-Trump Official Jeffrey Clark: Reports

Federal investigators searched the home of former Trump Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark on Wednesday, according to multiple reports.

Clark, who helped cast doubt on Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss, had his Virginia home searched in connection to the DOJ’s investigation into efforts to overturn the presidential election, The New York Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

A precise motive for the search was not immediately known. It was also unclear which federal agencies conducted the investigation. A neighbor who claimed to have witnessed some of the law enforcement activity told ABC News that it appeared FBI agents were involved.

The right-leaning Center for Renewing America, where Clark works, condemned the search of his home, calling it a “weaponization of government.”

Jeffrey Clark served as assistant attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division.

via Associated Press

“Yesterday more than a dozen DOJ law enforcement officials searched Jeff Clark’s house in a pre-dawn raid, put him in the streets in his pajamas, and took his electronic devices. All because Jeff saw fit to investigate voter fraud. This is not America, folks,” the organization’s president, Russ Vought, said in a statement Thursday.

Clark had served in the Trump administration as assistant attorney general of the environment and natural resources division. He was also appointed as acting head of the Justice Department’s civil division in the fall of 2020.

Clark aligned himself with Trump after the former president lost his reelection campaign. At one point, Trump considered putting Clark in charge of the Justice Department as acting attorney general, according to former Trump administration officials. This decision followed Attorney General William Barr resigning in December 2020 after failing to convince Trump that there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud.

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection is expected to feature testimony on Thursday from three former Trump appointees ― acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue, and Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel Steven Engel ― about Trump’s efforts to make Clark the acting attorney general.

Clark refused to cooperate with the House select committee. In December, the committee voted to hold Clark criminally accountable for his failure to cooperate.