A top Biden administration Justice Department official was not truthful during her Senate confirmation process in 2021 when she said she had never been arrested for an alleged violent crime.
Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Kristen Clarke has served in her position since May 2021.
However, according to news reports, she had an arrest record that was not disclosed when she was narrowly confirmed by the Senate, which led to calls for her resignation.
Clarke’s past became an issue earlier this week when The Daily Signal reported Tuesday she had previously been arrested and accused of slicing her former husband’s finger to the bone with a knife.
The Signal unearthed a text message exchange involving Clark’s former husband, who was candid about the incident.
“I was seeing another woman,” Reginald Avery texted in a May 2021 exchange with Tom Jones of the American Accountability Foundation, which shared it in a post on social media platform X. (Warning: The text exchange contains language that some may find offensive.)
“She was angry,” Avery added of the 2006 incident at their Maryland home that led to his then-wife’s arrest, the Signal reported. “Attacked me with a knife. I instinctively grabbed it. As I said earlier, I’m not blameless.”
“That’s the story,” he concluded. “That’s what happened. She went to jail.”
After reading the reporting, Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah was among scores of people who called on Clarke to resign for not disclosing the arrest.
Kristen Clarke is in charge of enforcing civil rights laws.
She enforces those laws aggressively against anyone who sneezes near an abortion clinic.
And not at all against those who vandalize churches.
She lied under oath during her confirmation proceedings, and should resign. https://t.co/5tHpaG4a2W
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) May 1, 2024
She lied under oath to mask her arrest for committing a violent crime, yet she zealously prosecutes peaceful pro-life protesters.
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) May 1, 2024
Clarke acknowledged Wednesday that she was not truthful about being arrested during her marriage and said she had been a victim of domestic violence.
“Nearly 2 decades ago, I was subjected to years-long abuse and domestic violence at the hands of my ex-husband,” Clarke said in a statement to CNN.
Clarke added:
“This was a terrorizing and traumatizing period that I have sought to put behind me to promote my personal health, healing and well-being. The physical and emotional scars, the emotional abuse and exploitation, and the lying are things that no woman or mother should ever have to endure.”
Clark concluded that because of an expungement of her record, she did not feel it was necessary to reveal the incident when she was up for a top job at the DOJ.
Should Kristen Clarke resign?
“When given the option to speak about such traumatic incidents in my life, I have chosen not to,” she said. “I didn’t believe during my confirmation process and I don’t believe now that I was obligated to share a fully expunged matter from my past.”
When Clarke was nominated for her current role, she filled out a questionnaire from Lee in which she was asked numerous questions about her past.
One question read, “Since becoming a legal adult, have you ever been arrested for or accused of committing a violent crime against any person?”
On the form, which is available on the Senate Judiciary Committee website, Clarke answered, “No.”
Clarke celebrated in a DOJ statement in January when six pro-life activists were convicted of felonies when they peacefully blockaded the entrance to a Tennesse abortion clinic while singing hymns.
“These defendants are being held accountable for unlawfully obstructing access to reproductive health services,” Clarke said in a statement when it was announced the defendants would each face up to a decade behind bars.
