Attempt To Install Jeffrey Clark As Acting Attorney General

In late December 2020 and early January 2021, President Donald Trump attempted to remove Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and replace him with Jeffrey Clark, a senior Department of Justice official who was willing to advance Trump’s false claims of election fraud.

Clark drafted a letter to state officials in Georgia and other swing states falsely asserting that the Department of Justice had identified significant concerns about the integrity of the 2020 election and urging state legislatures to convene special sessions to reconsider certified election results. At the time, DOJ leadership had already concluded that no evidence existed that could change the outcome of the election.

When Rosen, Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue, and other senior DOJ officials refused to sign or send Clark’s letter, Trump explored installing Clark as acting attorney general so the letter could be sent under DOJ authority. According to testimony later provided to Congress, Trump held a meeting on January 3, 2021, to discuss the replacement.

During that meeting, senior DOJ leaders—including Rosen, Donoghue, and Assistant Attorney General Steven Engel—warned Trump that appointing Clark would trigger immediate mass resignations across the department, leaving the Justice Department leaderless during a constitutional crisis. They emphasized that Clark’s claims were false and unsupported by evidence.

Faced with the prospect of widespread resignations and public fallout, Trump ultimately abandoned the plan and kept Rosen in place. Congressional investigators later concluded that the attempted installation of Clark was an effort to weaponize the Department of Justice to legitimize false election fraud claims and pressure states into overturning lawful election results.

How the Laws May Apply

18 U.S.C. § 371 — Conspiracy to Defraud the United States
Attempting to install a DOJ official willing to promote knowingly false claims may constitute a conspiracy to interfere with lawful government processes.

18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2) — Obstruction of an Official Proceeding
Using the Department of Justice to pressure states to change certified election results could represent an attempt to obstruct Congress’s electoral vote certification.

Sources

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-J6-REPORT/pdf/GPO-J6-REPORT.pdf
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/22/us/politics/trump-justice-department-clark.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/08/02/trump-justice-department