Former Trump Administration official Jeffrey Clark is facing disbarment — but not if former President Donald Trump has anything to say about it, reported Politico on Tuesday.
Specifically, Trump plans to use executive privilege claims to try to bar various officials from testifying in the proceedings against Clark, who was an instrumental figure in the alleged scheme to overthrow the 2020 presidential election and separately faces criminal prosecution in Georgia.
"In a letter to Clark dated Jan. 12, Trump attorney Todd Blanche urged Clark to ensure that neither he nor other witnesses talk about confidential conversations they had while Trump was in office," reported Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein. "Those conversations, Blanche said, could be covered by 'Trump’s executive privilege and other related privileges, including law enforcement privilege, attorney client privilege, and deliberative process privilege.'"
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"The Biden administration authorized Clark and other DOJ officials in July 2021 to disclose details of their confidential discussions with Trump. Trump’s lawyers at the time opted not to fight the decision but indicated in correspondence that they viewed the decision as 'unlawful' and reserved the right to challenge it in the future," said the report. "In his new letter, Blanche indicated that that moment could be at hand. Trump, he said, reserves the right to 'intervene in any litigation involving these privileges.'"
Notably, the report added, Trump did not try to intervene in the California disbarment case of John Eastman, another pro-Trump attorney who drafted an infamous memo outlining how to get electors in battleground states that voted for President Joe Biden disqualified.
As the legal discipline case unfolds, Clark has also been doing everything he can to get more favorable conditions for his criminal trial, including a bid to remove his case to federal court that was denied.
