Capitol riot testimony of former Trump Justice Dept official Jeffrey Clark delayed

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The congressional committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol has delayed testimony by Jeffrey Clark, a former senior official at the Justice Department, because he has retained a new lawyer.

“Mr. Clark has been granted a brief postponement as a result of his retaining new counsel,” a committee aide said on Friday.

The U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 assault on the seat of the U.S. government announced on Oct. 13 that it had issued a subpoena to Clark asking him to produce records and testify at a deposition by Oct. 29.

Clark was acting head of the Justice Department’s civil division during the presidency of former Republican President Donald Trump. He was a proponent of Trump’s unfounded claims that Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the November 2020 election was the result of fraud.

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In announcing it subpoenaed Clark, the committee said it needed to understand all the details about efforts inside the previous administration to amplify misinformation about election results.

Trump gave a speech espousing his election fraud theory at a raucous rally on Jan. 6, when Vice President Mike Pence and Congress met to certify Biden’s election. Trump urged his supporters to “fight like hell,” sending thousands of them to march on the Capitol.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)