Jan. 6 panel postpones deposition with former DOJ official

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WASHINGTON – The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection has postponed a deposition with a erstwhile Justice Department authoritative Saturday owed to a “medical information that precludes his participation," according to a sheet spokesman.

The committee had scheduled the 2nd interrogation with Jeffrey Clark, who had aligned himself with erstwhile President Donald Trump past twelvemonth arsenic helium tried to overturn his defeat, aft Clark declined to reply questions astatine his archetypal deposition successful November. The sheet voted Wednesday to urge contempt charges against Clark but said it would clasp disconnected connected a ballot of the afloat House and springiness him a 2nd try.

Timothy Mulvey, a spokesperson for the committee, said Clark's deposition has been rescheduled for Dec. 16.

“Through his attorney, Mr. Clark has informed the Select Committee of a aesculapian information that precludes his information successful tomorrow’s gathering and helium has provided ample grounds of his claim,” Mulvey said successful a connection Friday evening.

The erstwhile Justice Department authoritative met with Trump up of the convulsive insurrection and unsuccessfully pushed his then-supervisors to publically denote that the section was investigating predetermination fraud and nonstop definite authorities legislatures to name caller electors, according to a Senate Judiciary Committee study released earlier this year.

The study said that Trump’s unit connected the Justice Department culminated successful a melodramatic White House gathering astatine which the president ruminated astir elevating Clark to lawyer general. Trump did not bash truthful aft respective aides threatened to resign, but helium continued to propulsion the baseless claims of fraud that were repeated by the convulsive mob of his supporters arsenic they broke into the Capitol and interrupted the certification of President Joe Biden's victory.

Clark's lawyer informed the committee this week, conscionable up of the contempt vote, that his lawsuit present wants to invoke his Fifth Amendment close against self-incrimination. That came aft Clark had initially declined to reply questions based connected Trump's claims of enforcement privilege and assorted different privileges his lawyer claimed helium should beryllium afforded.

The president of the Jan. 6 panel, Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, said Clark had offered “no circumstantial basis" for asserting the 5th Amendment and that helium viewed it arsenic a “last-ditch effort to hold the Select Committee’s proceedings” but said members would perceive him out. The committee wants Clark to plead the Fifth Amendment connected a question-by-question basis, dissimilar his archetypal deposition erstwhile helium and his lawyer abruptly left.

If the committee decides aft the deposition that Clark is inactive successful defiance of the subpoena, the House could ballot connected contempt charges soon afterward. The Justice Department would past determine whether to prosecute.

Clark is the 2nd idiosyncratic the committee has voted to clasp successful contempt. The House voted successful October to urge charges against longtime Trump state Steve Bannon aft helium defied a subpoena and the Justice Department indicted him connected 2 counts of transgression contempt.

Trump, who told his supporters to “fight similar hell” connected the greeting of the rioting, has sued to artifact the committee’s enactment and has attempted to asseverate enforcement privilege implicit documents and interviews, arguing that his backstage conversations and actions astatine the clip should beryllium shielded from nationalist view.

Despite Trump’s mendacious claims astir a stolen predetermination — the superior information for the convulsive mob that broke into the Capitol and interrupted the certification of Biden’s triumph — the results were confirmed by authorities officials and upheld by the courts.

Trump’s ain lawyer general, William Barr, said successful December 2020 that the Justice Department recovered nary grounds of wide fraud that could person changed the results.

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