'Materially changes this case': Trump gets involved in Jan. 6 accomplice’s disbarment

Former Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark is getting a last-minute assist from former President Donald Trump in his disbarment proceedings that may derail the entire process.

According to a Tuesday report in Politico, Trump lawyer Todd Blanche recently sent a letter to Clark's attorneys asking him to keep silent about any private conversations with the former president while he was in the White House. Blanche asserted that those conversations could be protected by "Trump’s executive privilege and other related privileges, including law enforcement privilege, attorney client privilege and deliberative process privilege." He added that the ex-president reserves the right to "intervene in any litigation involving these privileges."

Should Trump decide to assert executive privilege in Clark's disbarment proceedings, Politico legal correspondents Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein wrote that it could "force months of litigation on the matter."

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Clark is currently defending his law license in Washington, DC, where he is in the midst of a disciplinary hearing that could result in his disbarment over his efforts in helping Trump overturn the 2020 presidential election. He is also one of the co-defendants in Fulton County, Georgia district attorney Fani Willis' sprawling RICO case against Trump and his associates for alleged election interference in the Peach State.

The former Trump DOJ official had previously sought to have his Georgia case moved from Fulton County to Washington, DC in an effort to have a friendlier venue, arguing that he was acting in his capacity as a federal government employee in DC. The judge who shot down Clark's bid to change the venue for his case also rejected former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows' attempt to relocate his trial from Georgia to DC.

Jeffrey Clark isn't the only Trump aide to face potential disbarment. John Eastman — author of the infamous "Eastman Memo" that laid out the plan to challenge electors and install Trump for a second term — is in the midst of his own disbarment proceedings in California. State bar officials have brought 11 disciplinary charges against Eastman as part of his attempts to subvert election results. A decision is expected by February 29. Eastman is also facing felony RICO charges in Fulton County.

After his failed attempts to move his Georgia trial, Clark and Eastman will both stand trial along with the former president in Fulton County, where they will each serve up to 20 years in prison if found guilty. Willis has requested an August trial date.

READ MORE: Trump ally and January 6 architect John Eastman now on the verge of losing his law license