(FreePressBeacon.com) – Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke recently admitted that she lied to Congress by hiding that she had been arrested years ago.
Clarke willingly decided not to disclose the incident during her Senate confirmation because it had been expunged.
Clarke, who now leads the Justice Department’s civil rights division, was questioned during the 2021 confirmation by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR).
When he asked whether she had “ever been arrested for or accused of committing a violent crime against any person,” she answered, “No.”
It has been reported that Clarke was arrested in Maryland in 2006 following a domestic violence complaint documented in court records, statements from her ex-husband Reginald Avery and text messages between Avery and a conservative nonprofit group.
According to Avery, Clarke “sliced [his finger] to the bone” during a fight after he admitted he cheated on her.
Charges against Clarke were eventually dropped and she later successfully expunged the arrest from her record.
In her recent statement to CNN, Clarke discussed her relationship with Avery, saying, “Nearly 2 decades ago, I was subjected to years-long abuse and domestic violence at the hands of my ex-husband.”
Clarke defended her decision not to reveal the arrest during the confirmation process by claiming that the expungement meant shed did not have the need to report it.
“When given the option to speak about such traumatic incidents in my life, I have chosen not to,” she explained. “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.”
This revelation has sparked calls for her resignation from at least one Republican lawmaker, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who criticized Clarke’s approach to enforcing civil rights laws and accused her of lying under oath.
Despite the controversy, Clarke has said she has no intention of stepping down. Instead, she has said she remains committed to focusing on the needs of crime victims in her work.
“As I have done at every stage of my career as a life-long public servant, I will continue working to ensure that we carry out our work in a way that centers the experiences and needs of crime victims,” she stated.
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