Trump was "inadvertent and it would not happen again, and that if anyone asked him to go to such a meeting, he would notify Rich Donoghue and me [Rosen]."[108] Of course, Clark had good reasons to be defensive. His meeting with President Trump and Representative Perry on December 22nd was a clear violation of Department policy, which limits interactions between the White House and the Department's staff. As Steven Engel, former Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel, explained to the Select Committee, "it's critical that the Department of Justice conducts its criminal investigations free from either the reality or any appearance of political interference."[109] For that reason, the Department has longstanding polices in place, across administrations, to "keep these communications as infrequent and at the highest levels as possible, just to make sure that people who are less careful about it, who don't really understand these implications, such as Mr. Clark, don't run afoul of the of those contact policies."[110] Rosen added that only the Attorney General or Deputy Attorney General "can have conversations about criminal matters with the White House," or they can "authorize" someone from within DOJ to do so.[111] Clark had no such authorization.
Representative Perry continued to advocate on Clark's behalf. The Congressman texted Meadows on December 26th, writing: "Mark, just checking in as time continues to count down. 11 days to 1/6 and 25 days to inauguration. We gotta get going!"[112] Representative Perry followed up: "Mark, you should call Jeff. I just got off the phone with him and he explained to me why the principal deputy [position] won't work especially with the FBI. They will view it as not having the authority to enforce what needs to be done."[113] Meadows responded: "I got it. I think I understand. Let me work on the deputy position."[114] Representative Perry then sent additional texts: "Roger. Just sent you something on Signal", "Just sent you an updated file", and "Did you call Jeff Clark?"[115]
4.7 DECEMBER 27TH PHONE CALL
On December 27, 2020, President Trump called Acting Attorney General Rosen once again. At some point during the lengthy call, Rosen asked that Acting Deputy Attorney General Donoghue be conferenced in.[116] According to Donoghue's contemporaneous notes, Trump referenced three Republican politicians, all of whom had supported the President's election lies and the "Stop the Steal" campaign.[117] One was Representative Scott Perry. Another was Doug Mastriano, a State senator from Pennsylvania who would later be on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol during the January 6th attack.[118] President Trump also referenced Representative Jim Jordan from Ohio, praising
