DC Bar Does Democrats’ Dirty Work By Tarring Opponents Right Before Midterms
BY: MARGOT CLEVELAND
SEPTEMBER 30, 2022
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In an unprecedented move, the D.C. Bar opened an investigation into a former top Justice Department lawyer for advice he gave former President Donald Trump, with documents indicating a Democrat senator prompted the probe. The timing of the procedures, and the complicity between elected officials and the bar,suggest a concerted attempt to create an October surprise.
Even more troubling than this election interference, however, is how dangerous the threat of punishing executive-branch attorneys for providing a legal opinion is to the country. The Democrats’ ploy also risks irreparably cementing America’s partisan divide in the governance of our great country.
Earlier this year, purportedly in response to a letter from Democrat Sen. Dick Durbin, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the D.C. Bar opened an investigation into former Department of Justice attorney Jeff Clark. According to documents filed with the D.C. Bar, based on Durbin’s complaint, the Board of Professional Responsibility charged Clark with violating the Rules of Professional Responsibility by supposedly “engaging in conduct involving dishonesty,” and engaging “in conduct that would seriously interfere in the administration of justice.
The conduct underlying these charges concerned Clark’s drafting of a letter he recommended his bosses send to the Georgia governor, the Georgia speaker of the House, and the Georgia president pro tempore of the Senate concerning the 2020 election. At the time Clark drafted the letter on Dec. 28, 2020, he was the acting assistant attorney general for the Civil Division of the DOJ. He drafted the letter over signature lines for himself and his superiors, Jeff Rosen, the then-acting attorney general, and Richard Donoghue, the then-deputy attorney general.
The draft letter stated that theDepartment of Justice was “investigating various irregularities in the 2020 election for President of the United States.” The letter continued: “We have identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple States, including the State of Georgia.” “In light of these developments,” Clark’s proposed letter stated, “the Department recommends that the Georgia General Assembly should convene in special session so that its legislators are in a position to take additional testimony, receive new evidence, and deliberate on the matter consistent with its duties under the U.S. Constitution.”
Additionally, the draft letter said, “[T]he Department also finds troubling the current posture of a pending lawsuit in Fulton County, Georgia, raising several of the voting irregularities pertaining to which candidate for President of the United States Received the most lawfully cast votes in Georgia,” noting that “the trial court there has not even scheduled a hearing on the matter, making it difficult for the judicial process to consider this evidence and resolve these matters on appeal prior to January 6.” The proposed letter then stressed that “the urgency of this serious matter, including the Fulton County litigation’s sluggish pace,” makes the calling of a special session of the Georgia General Assembly warranted and in the nation’s best interests.
Both Rosen and Donoghue strenuously objected to sending the letter, the D.C. Bar’s charge indicated, with Donoghue stating he knew “of nothing that would support the statement, ‘we have identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple states.’” Donoghue further noted he did not believe it was the DOJ’s role to recommend to a “State legislature about how they should meet their Constitutional obligations to appoint Electors.”
The D.C. Bar then alleged in its charge that over the next several days, Trump offered Clark the position of acting attorney general, with Clark purportedly intending to accept the position and then send the letter to Georgia.Trump, however, decided against replacing Rosen and Donoghue and never sent the draft letter to the Georgia officials. Yet the D.C. Bar charged that Clark’s drafting of the letter and advocating for it to be sent to Georgia involved “dishonesty” and “seriously interfere[d] in the administration of justice.”
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