The Justice Department’s divisive head of the civil rights division admitted on Wednesday that she wasn’t entirely truthful during her Senate confirmation process.
Kristen Clarke was nominated by President Biden and confirmed as Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division by all 50 Senate Democrats and Maine Republican Susan Collins in May 2021.
Senate Confirms Kristen Clarke, Who Published ‘Defund the Police’ Op-Ed, as Assistant Attorney General https://t.co/1lHsbnvMdk pic.twitter.com/uPz0iybrqs
— BPR (@BIZPACReview) May 26, 2021
“Since becoming a legal adult, have you ever been arrested for or accused of committing a violent crime against any person?” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) asked then-nominee Clarke during her confirmation process.
“No,” she replied, according to The Daily Signal, which cited her responses while under oath to “Questions for the Record” from U.S. senators.
“Messages as well as records obtained and authenticated by The Daily Signal indicate that Clarke may have been less than forthcoming with this statement,” the outlet reported earlier this week.
NEW: DOJ’s Kristen Clarke testified during her confirmation hearings that she was never arrested for or accused of committing a violent crime. I’ve obtained messages and records indicating Clarke may have been…less than forthcoming with this statement.https://t.co/Wxcusa4yXU
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) April 30, 2024
In fact, Clarke was arrested on July 4, 2006, after she allegedly attacked her ex-husband, Reginald Avery, and sliced his finger “to the bone” with a knife.
Clarke addressed her fib before the Senate, telling CNN that she was, for years, a victim of domestic abuse.
She chose not to report the arrest, Clarke said, because the arrest record had been expunged.
“Nearly 2 decades ago, I was subjected to years-long abuse and domestic violence at the hands of my ex-husband,” Clarke wrote in a Wednesday statement to CNN.
“This was a terrorizing and traumatizing period that I have sought to put behind me to promote my personal health, healing and well-being,” she explained. “The physical and emotional scars, the emotional abuse and exploitation, and the lying are things that no woman or mother should ever have to endure.”
“When given the option to speak about such traumatic incidents in my life, I have chosen not to,” Clarke stated. “I didn’t believe during my confirmation process and I don’t believe now that I was obligated to share a fully expunged matter from my past.”
Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) begs to differ.
“Kristen Clarke is in charge of enforcing civil rights laws,” Lee wrote on X. “She enforces those laws aggressively against anyone who sneezes near an abortion clinic. And not at all against those who vandalize churches.
“She lied under oath during her confirmation proceedings, and should resign.”
“She lied under oath to mask her arrest for committing a violent crime,” Lee added, “yet she zealously prosecutes peaceful pro-life protesters.”
She lied under oath to mask her arrest for committing a violent crime, yet she zealously prosecutes peaceful pro-life protesters.
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) May 1, 2024
Avery, meanwhile, has denied Clarke’s claims.
“I deny it of course,” he told The Daily Signal, “and think this a sad and pathetic effort to make herself a victim, and is revealing of her character.”
“I was seeing another woman,” Avery wrote in a May 2021 text message exchange with the American Accountability Foundation’s Tom Jones, the outlet reports.
“She was angry,” Avery wrote in the text. “Attacked me with a knife. I instinctively grabbed it. As I said earlier, I’m not blameless.”
Speaking to The Daily Signal, Avery stuck to his original story.
“That’s the story,” he said. “That’s what happened. She went to jail.”
UPDATE on this: Clarke’s ex-husband, Reginald Avery, tells @DailySignal of her allegations to CNN: “I deny it of course, and think this a sad and pathetic effort to make herself a victim, and is revealing of her character.”https://t.co/t2RoIk9UeE
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) May 2, 2024
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Author: Melissa Fine
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