'Another loss for Jeff Clark': Court denies ex-DOJ official who pushed Trump's 'big lie'
A Washington D.C. court Friday refused a demand from a one-time Justice Department official who could face disbarment for pushing Donald Trump's "big lie," according to court records and legal experts.
The D.C. Circuit court tossed attorney Jeff Clark's demand to transfer his disbarment case to federal court and professed itself unimpressed with the Trump ally's legal arguments, court records show.
"Clark lodges three responses, but none is persuasive," the ruling states, subsequently describing those arguments as "irrelevant" and "moot."
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Clark was put on the path to potential disbarment by the D.C. Bar’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel complaint that he dishonestly attempted to interfere with the 2020 election, court records show.
The former Justice department official faced a disciplinary panel in April that concluded with the disciplinary counsel confirming it would seek Clark’s disbarment, CNN reported at the time.
While Clark's attorney argued Clark was working on behalf of then-president Trump, several high-ranking Justice department officials testified they found his false-information push "out of line," according to the report.
Clark also faces criminal charges in Georgia as part of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' sweeping election racketeering case against Trump and his allies, court records show.
The recent Supreme Court ruling that Trump enjoyed presidential immunity when he pressured the Justice Department to challenge election results on his behalf has cast into doubt the future of that case, and the federal case brought by special counsel Jack Smith.
Sources have told CNN Clark may raise the decision in the Fulton County criminal case.
On Friday, former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance said the ruling in Washington D.C. boded badly for Clark.
"Another loss for Jeff Clark, who was willing to hand over the Justice Department's reputation to Donald Trump so he could push the Big Lie," Vance wrote on X. "SCOTUS may think that's an official act of a president but I never will."