National Intelligence (ODNI) "led by DNI Ratcliffe on foreign election interference issues."[184] ODNI did not find any foreign interference in the voting process or counting,[185] but Clark apparently believed some of the conspiracy theories that had been floated. Specifically, Clark claimed that "hackers have evidence (in the public domain) that a Dominion machine accessed the internet through a smart thermostat with a net connection trail leading back to China." Clark added: "ODNI may have additional classified evidence."[186] This crackpot claim had been shared by other Trump officials and associates as well.[187] Ultimately, after Clark received the ODNI briefing, "he acknowledged [to Donoghue] that there was nothing in that briefing that would have supported his earlier suspicion about foreign involvement."[188]
Clark intended to send the letter to officials in Georgia and several other contested States that President Trump needed to flip if he was going to overturn the election results. "The Department of Justice is investigating various irregularities in the 2020 election for President of the United States," Clark wrote.[189] Clark continued: "The Department will update you as we are able on investigatory progress, but at this time we have identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple States, including the State of Georgia."[190]
Clark continued by arguing that Georgia's State legislature should call a special session. "In light of these developments, the Department recommends that the Georgia General Assembly should convene in special session so that its legislators are in a special position to take additional testimony, receive new evidence, and deliberate on the matter consistent with its duties under the U.S. Constitution," Clark wrote.[191] Clark referenced the fake electors that the President and his campaign organized and argued that there were two competing slates of electors, both of which were legitimate.[192] "The Department believes that in Georgia and several other States, both a slate of electors supporting Joseph R. Biden, Jr., and a separate slate of electors supporting Donald J. Trump, gathered on [December 14, 2020] at the proper location to cast their ballots, and that both sets of those ballots have been transmitted to Washington, D.C., to be opened by Vice President Pence," Clark wrote.[193]
The letter was a lie. Senior DOJ officials—Barr, Rosen and Donoghue—had repeatedly stated the opposite. They found no evidence of fraud that would have impacted the election's results—none. But since mid-November, the Trump Campaign's legal team under Giuliani attempted to execute its dual-track strategy of both filing lawsuits and convincing state legislatures in contested states to appoint separate slates of Presidential electors for President Trump.[194] By late December, however, the dual-track
