According to the federal indictment of former President Donald Trump, Jeffrey Clark, a former top Justice Department official under Trump, was willing to utilize the Insurrection Act to maintain power despite losing the 2020 presidential election.
The indictment presents a shocking exchange on January 3, 2021, between Clark, referred to as Co-Conspirator 4, and deputy White House counsel Patrick Philbin. In December, Philbin had previously cautioned Clark that “there is no world, there is no option in which you do not leave the White House [o]n January 20th.” He reiterated this point on January 3 to discourage Clark from assuming the role of acting attorney general under a fraudulent Trump presidency.
Philbin warned Clark that if Trump attempted to remain in office without evidence of widespread election fraud in 2020, there would be “riots in every major city in the United States.”
Clark responded, “Well, [Phibin], that’s why there’s an Insurrection Act.”
The Insurrection Act, originally enacted in 1792, grants the President of the United States the power to deploy the military domestically in certain cases, such as suppressing civil disorder or rebellion.
According to Tuesday’s indictment, Clark, “worked on civil matters and who, with the Defendant, attempted to use the Justice Department to open sham election crime investigations and influence state legislatures with knowingly false claims of election fraud.”
Trump himself has been indicted on four felony charges related to the insurrection, marking his second federal indictment this year.
Read the full indictment here.