Jeffrey Clark First Defendant to Oppose March 4 Trial Date in Georgia Elections Case

Former U.S. Assistant Attorney General Jeff Clark speaks with NTD, in a still from a video released on April 3, 2023. NTD

Former Justice Department (DOJ) official Jeffrey Clark filed a motion to oppose the proposed March 4, 2024, trial date requested by the prosecution in a racketeering case brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over former President Donald Trump’s contesting of the 2020 election results.

His lawyer called Ms. Willis’s proposed date “highly premature” (pdf).

“The indictment was filed at approximately 10:30 PM on Monday August 14, 2023, while the Motion was filed at 12:49 PM on August 16, 2023,” the motion reads, pointing out that not one of the 19 defendants named has even yet “been served with any warrant, taken into custody, had a first appearance, or been arraigned, or waived arraignment.”

“In other words, when the Motion was filed, not even a single defendant had either submitted to or been properly subjected to the jurisdiction of the Court in this case.”

The grand jury heard witness testimonies on Monday, and on the same day voted an indictment with a total of 41 counts against the 19 defendants. A two-page, 13-count indictment that was prematurely posted on the court’s website led to much speculation about the speed and strategy of the proceedings, especially when the actual indictment was found to match the 13 counts exactly for President Trump. The defendants were given until noon on Aug. 25 to surrender voluntarily at the county jail.

Mr. Clark, an attorney who served as Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division and later acting head of the Civil Division under President Trump, was charged with two counts (pdf). In addition to racketeering, he was charged with criminal attempt to commit false statements and writings. The indictment states that on Dec. 28, 2020, he made a statement that the DOJ “identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple States, including the State of Georgia,” sent the statement to Georgia officials, and took a phone call with a Georgia bail bondsman on Jan. 2, 2021.

His lawyer noted in the motion that Mr. Clark does not concede jurisdiction in the county court, “especially not at this early, pre-service-of-process juncture.”

As Mr. Clark was acting in his official capacity as a federal government official, he is expected to, like co-defendant Mark Meadows, former chief of staff to the president, file a motion to remove his case to federal court, where they would seek dismissal.

“Mr. Clark reserves all defenses to the State’s indictment, including ... operation of the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, federal immunities based on his status as a high-ranking federal officer at the time of the alleged events, unconstitutional overbreadth, the prospect of federal removal jurisdiction, and failure to state a violation of law.”

His attorney noted that as far as he was aware, the state also had yet to make any attempts to confer with the 19 defendants’ counsel regarding the proposed schedule. Neither he nor Mr. Clark received any correspondence from Ms. Willis’s office, he added, and while some co-defendants received “target letters,” his client did not.

Given this, “it has no earthly idea whether any of the proposed dates fit the calendars of any, much less all of the dozens of busy attorneys who will be involved in representing the Defendants.”

Scale

Legal experts, including the former president’s own counsel, have pointed out that the sheer scale of the case Ms. Willis has brought—19 defendants, 161 counts of racketeering, 40 other counts in a 98-page indictment—warrants a long timeline. The remarks came after Ms. Willis said Monday she intended to bring the case to trial in six months, and continued when she proposed on Wednesday a March 4, 2024, trial start.

The prosecution’s proposed timeline reads more like a schedule for a “simple matter, such as a 2-page single-count indictment against a lone defendant who has already waived arraignment,” Mr. Clark’s attorney, Harry MacDougald, wrote. “The State’s Motion should be denied without prejudice.”

The ‘Prize’ of Trying Trump

Mr. Clark requested that the March 4, 2024, trial date to be thrown out not just because of its impracticality, but also because it revealed the “political nature” of the case.

“For multiple reasons, we are gravely concerned about the political nature of this case and the steps taken by the State thus far,” the filing reads. It argues that the date “could be interpreted as an attempt to stake out a place at the head of the line of prosecutors seeking the ‘prize’ of trying the former President before the 2024 presidential election.”

March 4 is one day before “Super Tuesday,” when 15 states will hold their presidential primaries, and eight days before Georgia’s own presidential primary.

“The legal significance of the manifest politicization of this case, as the District Attorney has pursued it and is attempting to frame it, will be the subject of future filings,” the filing reads.

In another case President Trump faces regarding the 2020 elections, he has asked for a 2026 trial date.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the district attorney’s office.