The chairman of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol excoriated a former Trump Justice Department official on Friday over his refusal to answer questions about the attack during a scheduled deposition.
Joshua Roberts / Reuters fileon Friday over his refusal to answer questions about the attack during a scheduled deposition.
Jeffrey Clark, a former acting head of the Justice Department's civil division who played a key role in then-President Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election, frustrated members of the committee when he arrived on Capitol Hill with a 12-page letter from his attorney,, explaining his refusal to testify.
Harry MacDougald, Clark's attorney, wrote that his client wants to wait until Trump's lawsuit challenging the committee’s power to access certain White House documents makes its way through the courts. The panel’s chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., rejected Clark's executive privilege claim, saying the committee needs"the information that he is withholding and we are willing to take strong measures to hold him accountable to meet his obligation.”
“Mr. Clark’s complete failure to cooperate today is unacceptable,” Thompson said in a statement Friday. “He has a very short time to reconsider and cooperate fully.”
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