A federal judge rejected former Assistant Attorney General Jeff Clark’s efforts to remove the Fulton County, Georgia, criminal indictment to federal court. The Friday decision by Obama appointee Steve Jones constituted an appalling disregard for the executive branch of government, which, unless overturned on appeal, will threaten the confidentiality and candor essential to the executive branch.
Clark had attempted to remove to federal court the sprawling grand jury indictment that get-Trump Fulton County prosecutor Fani Willis had obtained against him and 18 co-defendants, which included the former president. Clark sought removal based on § 1442(a)(1) of the United States code, which provides that a “criminal prosecution that is commenced in a State court” against an “officer” of the United States or any federal agency may “remove” the case to a federal court if the prosecution is “for or relating to any act under color of such office…”
Judge Jones rejected Clark’s efforts to remove the case, concluding the former assistant attorney general failed to present sufficient evidence to establish that his drafting of a letter on Dec. 28, 2020, addressed to the Georgia governor, the Georgia speaker of the House, and the Georgia president pro tempore of the Senate, was “causally connected” to his job as the assistant attorney general for the Civil Division of the DOJ.
That draft letter, which Clark presented to his DOJ superiors — Jeff Rosen, then-acting attorney general, and Richard Donoghue, then-acting deputy attorney general — noted the DOJ was “investigating various irregularities in the 2020
