A Washington, DC, disciplinary board recommended Thursday that Jeffrey Clark, an attorney and longtime ally of President Donald Trump, should lose his law license for trying to include the Justice Department in Trump’s failed attempt to subvert the 2020 election results.
The recommendation from Washington, DC’s board on professional responsibilities will now proceed to the DC Court of Appeals, who will make a final decision on Clark’s disbarment.
Clark’s potential punishment shows the cascading, and continuing, effects of Trump and his allies’ effort to keep him in the White House despite losing the 2020 presidential election.
In explaining its decision, the panel wrote that Clark, then an assistant attorney general, “urged Justice Department leadership to issue a letter he had drafted that cast doubt on the election results” despite being told by DOJ leadership his theory was not correct.
The letter Clark wrote, but was never sent, urged the Georgia state legislature to investigate election “irregularities” and, if necessary, appoint electors themselves that go against the results of the popular vote. The letter was meant to be a “proof of concept” that would eventually be sent to several states.
“Lawyers must observe the highest standard of professional conduct. At a minimum, they must be honest,” the panel wrote.
“He should be disbarred as a consequence and to send a message to the rest of the Bar and to the public that this behavior will not be tolerated,” it added.
Clark currently is the acting administrator of the White House Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.
“This latest injustice is just another chapter in the deep state’s ongoing assault on President Trump and those who stood beside him in defense of the truth,” said OMB communications director Rachel Cauley. “Jeff Clark has been harassed, raided, doxed, and blacklisted simply for questioning a rigged election and serving President Trump.”
“The fight continues,” Clark posted on X.
Two of the nine-member board said they did not support Clark being disbarred, instead recommending that he be suspended for three years.
CNN’s Kit Maher contributed to this report.
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