How much of this sort of thing went on all over the government?
Two whistleblowers assert that a Justice Department official improperly injected politics into the hiring process during his waning days in the Trump administration, according to a new filing obtained by NPR.
The whistleblowers accuse Jeffrey Bossert Clark of conducting a “sham” process and elevating a person who volunteered to defend a controversial Trump policy on abortion access, even though the person had far less experience than other finalists for the job in the Civil Division, they said in a Wednesday letter to House and Senate lawmakers and the Justice Department’s inspector general. Clark was then the acting assistant attorney general in charge of the department’s Civil Division.
Clark drew nationwide attention this year after The New York Times reported he had discussed a way to unseat the acting attorney general, take the job for himself and advance then-President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn Georgia’s election results before the congressional certification of electoral votes in January.
The scandal figured in Trump’s second impeachment trial — and it renewed concerns about partisan political influence on Justice Department operations.Article continues after sponsor message
The whistleblowers said that Clark’s participation in the hiring process for an assistant director of the Civil Division was unusual and that he engaged in “perfunctory” 15-minute interviews with two more highly qualified finalists for the post. Their letter said Clark had “used a timer” in the meetings and was not “particularly engaged.”
Clark announced his decision two days before he left the Justice Department in January. Two other officials in the Civil Division said they did not believe the hiring decision was motivated by politics, the letter said. But the whistleblowers disagreed.
“What set the successful appointee apart from the other candidates was that the appointee — unlike the others — had volunteered and was part of the DOJ litigation team defending a controversial Trump administration policy,” according to their letter. That policy barred pregnant, unaccompanied minors in federal immigration custody from obtaining abortions. A court later determined the policy was unconstitutional.
Of course.
It was clear that Clark is an extremist the minute it became known that he willingly intervenes on Trump’s behalf even beyond where Bill Barr was willing to go. It makes perfect sense that he would plant some right wing ideologues in the department before he left. And they probably aren’t the only ones.
This is a particularly acute problem for the DOJ but I suspect it happened at other agencies as well, like the Pentagon, HHS and Department of Energy. I think this sort of thing happened in the past but the Trump people are dangerous saboteurs. Each of the new cabinet members must do a full audit of these departments.