Jeffrey Clark, the former Trump administration official who sought to use the Justice Department to aid Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, attended the former president’s trial in Manhattan on Thursday.
Clark was seen in the back rows of the courtroom as Michael Cohen was cross examined in the afternoon. Clark was not part of Trump’s entourage in the room, but joins other Trump allies who have populated the back rows over the last several weeks, including Carter Page, Andrew Giuliani and others, a person familiar with his presence tells CNN.
If Trump is reelected, Clark could secure a job in his second administration. He often publicly defends Trump, even as he’s faced threats to his own ability to practice law because of his actions on Trump’s behalf.
In the waning days of the Trump administration, Trump came close to installing Clark as his final attorney general in an acting position but declined to do so after other officials threatened to resign in protest. Clark had endeared himself to the embattled president as he attempted to leverage his senior role at the Justice Department to help Trump overturn the election results and undermine public trust. Clark violated Justice Department policy by speaking directly with the former president multiple times.
Clark was indicted in Georgia last summer, where he’s charged with violating the state’s racketeering law and attempting to make false statements. He has pleaded not guilty.
As CNN has reported, an attorney discipline panel in Washington recently made the preliminary decision that Clark could face sanctions, including disbarment, for trying to sow doubt in Trump’s electoral loss in 2020.
