Election denier who Trump wanted to take over DOJ pleads the 5th in disbarment hearing

WASHINGTON — An environmental lawyer whom Donald Trump wanted to take over the Justice Department in the days before the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol repeatedly asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during a disbarment hearing on Wednesday.

Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department civil lawyer with no criminal law experience, had wanted to investigate a conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was stolen, including via smart thermostats. Just hours before the Jan. 6 attack, Trump nearly made Clark the acting attorney general of the United States but backed off when Justice Department leadership threatened to resign en mass.

Federal authorities searched Clark's home in June 2022, and he now faces criminal charges in Georgia in the state racketeering case against Trump and others. Clark surrendered to authorities in August in that case and entered a not-guilty plea. He is also unindicted co-conspirator no. 4 in the federal election interference case brought by special counsel Jack Smith against Trump.

Clark briefly testified during a disciplinary hearing unfolding this week before the Ad Hoc Hearing Committee for the D.C. Board on Professional Responsibility, which is deciding whether Clark should lose his bar license for his involvement in attempts to overturn Trump's 2020 election loss. The case was initiated in 2022 by the D.C. Bar’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel and has been held up in litigation for nearly two years.

Before Clark's testimony, his lawyer talked about wanting to prevent Clark from having to repeatedly assert his Fifth Amendment right and “avoid us being on MSNBC for no good reason."

Once his testimony got underway, Clark repeatedly asserted his Fifth Amendment right, as