Capitol riot investigators could give former Trump Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark immunity, which would complicate any efforts to prosecute him in the future.
No decision has been made yet, but Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat and member of the Jan. 6 committee, said such an offer should be under consideration after Clarke’s “very disappointing” deposition Wednesday.
“One of the options the committee needs to look at is whether we provide use immunity to Mr. Clark,” she told CNN in an interview on Thursday.
On @OutFrontCNN-> Rep. Zoe Lofgren confirms our reporting that former DOJ Official Jeffrey Clark pled the 5th more than 100 times in their interview– she then tells @ErinBurnett that the committee is considering offering Clark immunity for his testimony: pic.twitter.com/BfFEWS5814
— Ryan Nobles (@ryanobles) February 4, 2022
“What that means is that the testimony you give to the committee could not be used in a criminal case. If the Justice Department finds out about it some other way, they are not precluded from proceeding,” Lofgren added. “We have not made that decision, but we are sorting through those issues right now to see whether that is an appropriate step to take.”
The gambit was met with tweets of “bad idea” from former agent Frank Figliuzzi and “bad move” by national security lawyer Bradley Moss. Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti noted how Congress granting immunity to Oliver North led to an Iran-Contra case against him being dismissed.
“Offering use immunity to Jeffrey Clark could also make it difficult for the DOJ to subsequently prosecute Clark. Oliver North’s conviction was overturned due to prior immunity he received from Congress,” he said in a tweet.
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Clark was a Justice Department official who the panel says met with former President Donald Trump and participated “in efforts to delegitimize the results of the 2020 presidential election.”
Clark pleaded the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times during the deposition Wednesday, according to CNN. He refused to cooperate with a deposition last year, which led to a criminal contempt referral that has yet to receive a full House vote.
