The D.C. Bar’s disciplinary arm has recommended that longtime Donald Trump ally Jeffrey Clark lose his law license for assisting Trump’s failed bid to overturn the 2020 election.
The recommendation now heads to the D.C. Court of Appeals for a final determination. It also triggers an automatic suspension for Clark from practicing law, unless he convinces the court within 30 days to intervene and block that immediate punishment.
Clark, who was a top Justice Department official during Trump’s first term, is currently leading the Trump administration’s regulatory review in the Office of Management and Budget. White House aides and lawyers for Clark did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The D.C. Bar’s Board of Professional Responsibility said its ruling was based on Clark’s effort to pressure Justice Department leaders to issue a false statement that there was evidence of significant fraud in the 2020 election, which Trump lost to Joe Biden.
Clark, at the time, pushed his bosses to lean on swing states to revisit the election results — and when they resisted, he circumvented them and discussed the matter with Trump directly. Trump considered installing Clark as acting attorney general in the final weeks of his administration but backed down amid a mass resignation threat by key White House and Justice Department officials.
“Lawyers cannot advocate for any outcome based on false statements and they certainly cannot urge others to do so,” the board ruled. “Respondent persistently and energetically sought to do just that on an important national issue. He should be disbarred as a consequence and to send a message to the rest of the Bar and to the public that this behavior will not be tolerated.”
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