Trump attorney Justin Clark interviewed with FBI last month, prosecutors say

“The Defendant’s timing suggests that the only thing that has really changed since he refused to comply with the subpoena in October 2021 is that he is finally about to face the consequences of his decision to default,” Vaughn wrote.

“All of the above-described circumstances suggest the Defendant’s sudden wish to testify is not a genuine effort to meet his obligations but a last-ditch attempt to avoid accountability.”

According to Vaughn, Clark contradicted a number of claims by Bannon and his protection group, which had lengthy cited correspondence with Clark as the idea for Bannon’s competition that Trump had claimed govt privilege over Bannon’s testimony and data.

Instead, Vaughn mentioned, Clark instructed DOJ “that the former President never invoked executive privilege over any particular information or materials; that the former President’s counsel never asked or was asked to attend the Defendant’s deposition before the Select Committee; that the Defendant’s attorney misrepresented to the Committee what the former President’s counsel had told the Defendant’s attorney; and that the former President’s counsel made clear to the Defendant’s attorney that the letter provided no basis for total noncompliance.”

Vaughn famous that DOJ supplied Bannon’s group with an FBI report of Clark’s interview on June 30, the day after it was carried out.

It’s unclear if Clark was particularly interviewed about Bannon’s case or was introduced in to debate different issues DOJ is pursuing linked to Trump’s effort to overturn the election. Clark and Bannon attorney Robert Costello couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.

The Jan. 6 choose committee not too long ago revealed that Clark interviewed with them as effectively, elevating doubts in regards to the Trump camp’s effort to ship false slates of electors to Congress in December 2020, a part of a multifaceted plan to strain then-Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election.

Bannon’s attorneys indicated they have been conscious of Clark’s interview last week, citing it — with out figuring out Clark — as a motive to delay Bannon’s trial till October.

In a separate submitting, DOJ additionally rejected further arguments by Bannon to delay his trial, together with a newly lodged argument that one of many prosecutors on the case, Molly Gaston, as soon as labored with a high choose committee staffer, Kristin Amerling, on Capitol Hill and have been in a e-book membership collectively.

“In his effort to create panic, the Defendant also mischaracterizes the information the Government provided relating to Kristin Amerling,” Vaughn wrote. “As the Government informed the Defendant on July 8, she and Ms. Gaston worked together over a decade ago and were in a book club that Ms. Gaston has not attended in almost two years. At no point did the Government represent that Ms. Amerling and Ms. Gaston have a close personal relationship, because they do not.”