Updated June 23, 2022 at 3:20 PM ET
Federal authorities searched the suburban Virginia home of former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the activity.
The U.S. Attorney's office in Washington D.C. confirmed "there was law enforcement activity" in an area near the address where Clark resides, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney. "We have no comment regarding the nature of that activity or any particular individual."
Russ Vought, who served as the director of the Office of Management and Budget under former President Donald Trump, said in a statement that "yesterday more than a dozen DOJ law enforcement officials searched Jeff Clark's house in a pre-dawn raid, put him in the streets in his pajamas, and took his electronic devices. All because Jeff saw fit to investigate voter fraud.
Vought, now president of the Center for Renewing America, where Clark works, characterized the move as "the weaponization of government."
Clark features heavily in the House Select Committee hearing today that focuses on former President Donald Trump's efforts to push the Justice Department to do his bidding in the weeks before the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Trump had floated the idea of firing the acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen and replacing him with Clark, who embraced Trump's claims about election fraud and seemed to support a plan focused on advancing fake slates of electors in several states.
Former Attorney General Bill Barr, Rosen and former acting deputy attorney general Richard Donoghue each told Trump repeatedly they saw no evidence of widespread voter fraud in 2020.
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
