Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clark acknowledged Wednesday that she was arrested and chose not to disclose the legal issue during the Senate confirmation process because it had been removed from the record.
During the 2021 confirmation process, Clark, who currently heads the Justice Department’s civil rights division, was asked in a questionnaire by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), “Have you ever been arrested or charged with a violent crime?” ” was asked. To anyone. ”
To this, Mr. Clark replied, “No.”
The Daily Signal reported Tuesday that Clark was arrested in Maryland in 2006 in connection with domestic violence charges.
The outlet cited court documents and text messages between her ex-husband, Reginald Avery, and the president of the American Accountability Foundation, a conservative nonprofit group.
Avery told the outlet After Mr Clark revealed the affair, he attacked her with a knife and his fingers were “cut to the bone”.
The charges against Clark were dropped, and more than a year later, she filed paperwork to erase the arrest from her record.
“Nearly 20 years ago, I suffered years of abuse and domestic violence at the hands of my ex-husband,” Clark said. stated in a statement on CNN on Wednesday.
“This has been a horrifying and traumatic time, but I have tried to put it behind me in order to promote personal health, healing and well-being,” she added. “Physical and emotional hurt, emotional abuse and exploitation, and lies no woman or mother should ever have to endure.”
Clark argued there was no need to announce the arrest to lawmakers because it had been canceled.
“When given the option to talk about such a traumatic event in my life, I chose not to,” a Biden administration official said. “During the approval process, I did not believe, and I still do not believe, that I was obligated to share anything that has been completely erased from my past.”
At least one Republican has called for Clark to resign from his position at the Justice Department, saying he should have announced his arrest.
“Kristen Clark is in charge of enforcing civil rights laws. She is aggressively enforcing these laws against people who sneeze near abortion clinics. And she is aggressively enforcing those laws against people who vandalize churches. I have absolutely no objection to that,” said Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah). I wrote it on X.
“She lied under oath during the confirmation process and should resign,” the senator said.
Mr. Clark does not appear to have any intention of resigning.
“As I have done at every stage of my lifelong public service career, I will continue to work to ensure that I conduct my work in a way that centers the experiences and needs of victims of crime,” she said. Ta.
