Republican Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton is calling on Attorney General Merrick Garland to fire Kristen Clarke following The Daily Signal’s reporting on her arrest and subsequent expungement.
“I write regarding an act of perjury committed by Kristen Clarke, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights,” he wrote in a letter first published by Breitbart News. “I call for Ms. Clarke’s immediate termination and removal from office.”
Cotton sourced The Daily Signal’s April 30 report revealing for the first time that Clarke hid her arrest for a domestic violence incident and its subsequent expungement from investigators when she was awaiting Senate confirmation to her high-ranking Justice Department post.
Her ex-husband, Reginald Avery, has told The Daily Signal that Clarke attacked him with a knife, slicing his finger to the bone, while they were married in 2006. That record was later expunged, The Daily Signal confirmed.
Asked by Cotton during her confirmation, “Since becoming a legal adult, have you ever been arrested for or accused of committing a violent crime against any person?” she responded, “No,” according to a 66-page document she submitted under oath to “Questions for the Record” from senators.
“Lying to Congress under oath is a felony,” Cotton told Garland.
He continued: “The last time you were before the Senate Judiciary Committee, you said, ‘The integrity of our legal system is premised on adherence to the rule of law.’ In order to have confidence in our Department and in our democracy, the American people must be able to trust that we will adhere to the rule of law in everything we do.’ Ms. Clarke does not meet this standard and must be immediately terminated.”
Clarke has not responded to requests for comment from The Daily Signal, though the DOJ previously acknowledged receipt of these requests. Following The Daily Signal’s initial report, Clarke told CNN she hid the arrest during her Senate confirmation but then alleged she was the victim of domestic violence at the hands of her ex-husband.
Avery previously told The Daily Signal he did not abuse his ex-wife.
The Daily Signal’s reporting on Clarke prompted calls for her to resign from Utah Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican, the New York Post Editorial Board, and others. In early May, a group of conservative leaders called on Clarke to resign from her leadership position in a letter they sent to the high-ranking DOJ official.
And in June, Article III Project filed three ethics complaints and criminal referral, calling upon Garland to open a criminal probe into Clarke on the grounds that she “knowingly and willfully” made “materially false statements” and that she committed “perjury.”
“There is ample evidence to support this referral for false statements and perjury,” Mike Davis, founder and president of Article III Project, said in the criminal referral. Davis’ organization is focused on defending constitutionalist judges, opposing radical judicial nominees, and pushing back on “radical assaults on judicial independence” such as court-packing.