Ex-Justice Official Threatened With Contempt Faces Jan. 6 Panel

(Bloomberg) -- Former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, who faced the threat of being held in contempt of Congress, appeared Wednesday for closed-door questioning before a House panel investigating last year's attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The panel wanted to question Clark about whether he pressured colleagues at the Department of Justice to aid in former President Donald Trump's failed attempts to undo his defeat to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. Neither Clark nor the committee made any statements after the session.

The panel's seven Democrats and two Republicans unanimously voted in December to advance a criminal contempt of Congress resolution against Clark.

That followed Clark's Nov. 5 appearance before the panel, during which “he wouldn't answer questions, he bickered with our members and counsel, and then he got up and left,” committee chairman Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, said at the time.

After the committee voted on the contempt resolution, Clark's lawyer, Harry MacDougald, said his client would sit for another interview, putting contempt action on hold. His appearance has been rescheduled several times.

The committee alleges there's evidence that Clark, acting on behalf of Trump, sought to use the Justice Department to spread unfounded allegations about voter fraud, and that he wanted to push state legislatures to delay certification of Biden's election victory.

The panel -- which plans to hold a series of public hearings early this year -- has already interviewed more than 350 witnesses as it investigates events before, during, and after the violence at the Capitol on the day lawmakers were to certify Biden's victory.

The House has cited two people connected with the probe for contempt of Congress for refusing subpoenas for interviews: former Trump adviser Steve Bannon and his last White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows.