On Wednesday, federal investigators searched the Virginia home of Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official under President Donald Trump. Mr. Clark played a role in Trump’s scheme to push members of the justice department and state officials to support Trump’s claims of unsubstantiated voter fraud.

Mr. Clark, who was the acting head of the Justice Department’s civil division, pressured Acting Attorney Jeffrey Rosen to draft a letter to Governor Brian Kemp of Georgia in December 2020, which stated, without proof, that the Justice Department had identified “significant concerns” about the “outcome of the election” in Georgia and many other states. 

Rosen refused to play along. 

Trump and his team, including Clark, wanted Governor Kemp to have the George state legislature create a false, separate slate of Electoral College electors, supporting Donald Trump, even though Joe Biden had won the state.

The search of Clark’s home occurred one day before the House Committee Investigating the January 6 Attack on the Capitol was scheduled to hold its fifth hearing, focusing on the topic of pressure on the Justice Department to support Trump’s voter fraud claims. Jeffrey Rosen testified at that hearing. 

Trump’s goal was to use Mr. Clark to convince key swing states to overturn their election results. Trump planned to appoint Clark as acting attorney general, pushing out Jeffrey Rosen, but didn’t go through with it. 

Rosen had replaced William Barr, who had resigned because he didn’t believe the election had been “stolen.” 

But Trump wasn’t satisfied with Rosen and wanted to replace him with Jeffrey Clark. 

At the Senate Judiciary Hearings, Rosen testified that Clark was talking about, “Internet theories about voting machines being hacked via smart thermostats.”

Jeffrey Clark met with the January 6 Committee in February and pleaded the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times.