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So that DOJ scheme was BANANAS, but I don’t understand why people think it made a difference relative to the other impeachable nonsense Trump pulled.
Plan:
1. Trump replaces Rosen with Clark. Clark sends nastygram to Georgia that Rosen had refused to send.
2. ???
3. Profit!
/1
Plan:
1. Trump replaces Rosen with Clark. Clark sends nastygram to Georgia that Rosen had refused to send.
2. ???
3. Profit!
/1
Leave aside that everyone in DOJ would have noisily resigned, starting impeachment proceedings a few days earlier.
Georgia resisted direct pressure from the president.
Why was a mean letter from Acting Attorney General Jeff Clark going to make a jot of difference? /2
Georgia resisted direct pressure from the president.
Why was a mean letter from Acting Attorney General Jeff Clark going to make a jot of difference? /2
What could Clark possibly threaten? He’s getting fired January 20. The House wasn’t going to honor any challenges to the electoral college certifications. Even if Georgia flips, and it wouldn’t, Biden has 290 electoral votes. /3
Moreover, let’s fantasize that Raffensperger, who let Trump yell at him for an hour without budging, is so shook from a letter from Jeff Clark because of Clark’s 16 speeches to the Federalist Society (I’ve made dozens more than that) that he certifies for Trump. What next? /4
Well, it would be a nationwide scandal. Come January 6, the new Georgia certification would be challenged. And, friends, I absolutely promise you that the unprecedented reversal would be followed by an unprecedented Congressional override, and Biden goes back from 290 to 306. /5
In short, nothing that Clark was proposing could have made a jot of difference to anything except his resume.
It would’ve been outrageous. It would’ve been a stain on the history of DOJ. But not a tenth as outrageous as Trump’s phone call or the January 6 lynch mob. /6
It would’ve been outrageous. It would’ve been a stain on the history of DOJ. But not a tenth as outrageous as Trump’s phone call or the January 6 lynch mob. /6
(Worth noting too that if Clark’s scheme had improbably succeeded, then Trump’s speech to the MAGA mob would’ve been different, and it would’ve been the Left storming Congress on January 6. But Biden would still be President on January 20.)
This thread is quoted in this roundup. NB that Clark denies the accuracy of the Times report, and notes that privilege precludes him from refuting the attempts to cancel him. So all of this may be leaks by others hoping to revive their own reputations. /8 https://www.law.com/nationallawjournal/2021/01/24/astonishingly-improper-what-lawyers-are-saying-about-reported-trump-scheme-to-oust-acting-us-attorney-general/
Full statement and important disclaimer. People are all ready to excommunicate Clark. /9
My own disclosure and biases. I’ve known Jeff Clark since 1996 and Rosen since 1995 and worked with and like both. Clark is a Boggs clerk and exactly the sort of thoughtful law nerd you’d expect from having Boggs on the resume. I just don’t see Clark engaging in a coup. /10
Like this paragraph for example. How is the DOJ going to compel state lawmakers to do anything? And I really don’t see the Jeff I know saying “Let’s run roughshod over the Tenth Amendment!” /11
If all of this is based on a memo Clark wrote at DOJ, the Biden administration could retrieve and release the memo publicly tomorrow. I suspect they won’t because the press’s speculative characterizations will do them more favors than whatever the memo said. /12 https://twitter.com/brandonalevey/status/1353450519059165192
NB Clark was a signatory on the DOJ opposition to the Gohmert v. Pence lawsuit, for whatever that’s worth. At a minimum, he wasn’t purely doing Trump’s bidding. /13 https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/louie-gohmert-mike-pence/3658f12feb9c20aa/full.pdf
Here’s another thread I did with pure speculation how this may have played out consistent with what we know and no one lying. Maybe it’s wrong! /14 https://twitter.com/tedfrank/status/1353663501034786816
