Just how unqualified was Jeff Clark, the man Donald Trump wanted to install as Attorney General? Well, for starters, he’s the guy whose home the F.B.I. raided Wednesday.
But before that…
“When he finished discussing what he planned on doing, I said ‘(expletive), congratulations. You just admitted your first step you would take as A.G. would be committing a felony. You’re clearly the right candidate for this job,’” former Trump White House attorney Eric Herschmann was heard testifying via pre-recorded video on Thursday.
During the fifth January 6 hearing, Herschmann testified about what he told Jeffrey Clark, a lower D.O.J. official who oversaw environmental law enforcement and whom Trump wanted to install as acting attorney general to help overturn the election results, during an Oval meeting in which Trump continued his relentless pressure on the D.O.J. to help him overturn the election.
“I told Clark the only thing he knew was that ‘environmental and election both start with e, and I’m not even sure you know that.’”
Former deputy acting attorney general Richard Donoghue also recalled in audio testimony Trump lawyer Pat Cipollone weighing in on the letter Clark wanted to send, saying it was a “murder-suicide pact… we should have nothing to do with that letter.”
Donoghue recalled telling Clark that he wasn’t even competent to serve as the Attorney General and Clark tried to justify himself by saying he’d done very complicated appeals and environmental litigation.
“And I said ‘that is right, you are an environmental lawyer. Go back to your office and we will call you when there is an oil spill.’”
“I said that is right, you are an environmental lawyer. Go back to your office and we will call you when there is an oil spill.” pic.twitter.com/xzEV3Y4VYs
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) June 23, 2022
The F.B.I. raided the home of Trump’s favored stooge, Jeff Clark, the man who promised Trump he’d go along with his illegal scheme. His home was likely raided due to his “liability under 18 USC 371, conspiracy to defraud,” as pointed out by Norm Eisen, who linked to a Brookings Institute examination he co-authored which “reviews the evidence as to whether Trump as a matter of law conspired with his outside counsel John Eastman, administration lawyer Jeffrey Clark, and others to defraud the United States in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 by scheming to block the electoral count on January 6, 2021 and to subvert the Department of Justice’s election enforcement work.”
Aside from the colorful language, there’s a real point to this testimony and that is that Donald Trump sought to install a vastly unqualified person to the job of Attorney General because no one else would overthrow the election for him.
Much as Trump installed Barr as Attorney General after Barr’s audition piece about the Mueller Report made it clear he would shield Trump, Trump now sought yet another hack who hated this country enough to overthrow it for Donald Trump, a D-list reality T.V. show wannabe with a past littered with failed businesses.
The Attorney General is supposed to work for the United States government, not for the President, his family, or his cult. The Attorney General is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government.
Donald Trump sought to install an environmental law enforcement attorney as A.G. so he could steal 80 plus million people’s votes.
Ms. Jones is the co-founder/ editor-in-chief of PoliticusUSA and a member of the White House press pool.
Sarah hosts Politicus News and co-hosts Politicus Radio. Her analysis has been featured on several national radio, television news programs and talk shows, and print outlets including Stateside with David Shuster, as well as The Washington Post, The Atlantic Wire, CNN, MSNBC, The Week, The Hollywood Reporter, and more.
Sarah is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
