U.S. House committee recommends contempt charge for Trump-era Justice Dept official

The seven Democratic and two Republican members of the House of Representatives Select Committee approved a report recommending the criminal charge by a unanimous 9-0 vote, after Clark appeared before the committee in early November but declined to answer questions. The committee's approval of the report paved the way for the entire House to vote on whether to recommend contempt charges.


Reuters | Updated: 02-12-2021 06:03 IST | Created: 02-12-2021 06:03 IST
U.S. House committee recommends contempt charge for Trump-era Justice Dept official

The U.S. congressional committee probing the deadly Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol voted on Wednesday in favor of contempt of Congress https://www.reuters.com/world/us/whats-stake-trump-allies-facing-contempt-congress-2021-10-14 charges against Jeffrey Clark, a senior Justice Department official under former President Donald Trump. The seven Democratic and two Republican members of the House of Representatives Select Committee approved a report recommending the criminal charge by a unanimous 9-0 vote, after Clark appeared before the committee in early November but declined to answer questions.

The committee's approval of the report paved the way for the entire House to vote on whether to recommend contempt charges. Representative Bennie Thompson, the panel's Democratic chairman, said before the vote that Clark's attorney had contacted them on Wednesday evening and said Clark had invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to self-incriminate and agreed to continue his deposition.

Clark had declined to answer questions and walked out of his first deposition in early November. Thompson said the committee nonetheless was going ahead with the contempt proceeding, and had ordered Clark to appear on Saturday. "We will not allow anyone to run out the clock, and we will insist that he must appear," Thompson said.

Approval by the full, Democratic-controlled chamber would send the matter to the Department of Justice for a decision on whether to prosecute.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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