Bodycam footage of an early morning raid on the home of Jeffrey Clark—who served in the Department of Justice (DoJ) under former President Donald Trump and worked to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election—shows him answering the door in his underwear and being directed to step outside.
Much to Clark's embarrassment, agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) directed him to stand outside because they needed to "clear the house."
One agent went further, telling Clark that "as soon as we clear the house we’ll get you talking to your lawyer and we’ll get some pants on, OK?”
Agents offered to let the handcuffed Clark stand behind his car so his neighbors wouldn't be able to see him in his underwear and declined his request to wait in the garage.
You can watch the footage, which aired on CNN, below.
\u201c\u201cCan I put pants on first?\u201d Bodycam footage of federal raid on Jeffrey Clark, the environmental lawyer Trump wanted to head the Justice Department to help him overturn the election.\u201d— Mike Sington (@Mike Sington) 1657271375
A police report obtained by CNN shows that the raid was part of an “ongoing fraud investigation” during Clark’s time at the DOJ.
Clark's actions have come under further scrutiny in the weeks since the House Select Committee tasked with investigating the January 6 insurrection initiated public hearings into the Trump administration's efforts to overturn the results of an election that Democrat Joe Biden won decisively.
Trump tried unsuccessfully to install Clark as head of the agency when acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen refused to lend credence to Trump's false claims of election fraud.
Clark's name also circulated among prominent conservatives who backed these efforts in the weeks before a mob's supporters attacked the United States Capitol on the false premise that the election had been stolen.
For instance, Rick Perry, the Trump administration's former Energy Secretary, contacted former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows twice in December 2020 to connect him with Clark, according to a collection of 2,319 text messages that Meadows received and sent between Election Day 2020 and January 20, 2021, the day Biden was inaugurated.
The footage of the raid on Clark's home went viral and he was soundly mocked as a result.
\u201cSorry, but pants are definitely not a priority when our democracy is at stake.\u201d— Hey Nurse MSN RN\ud83d\udc69\ud83c\udffc\u200d\u2695\ufe0f\ud83e\ude7a\ud83d\udcbb\u2764\ud83c\udf78\u262e\ufe0f (@Hey Nurse MSN RN\ud83d\udc69\ud83c\udffc\u200d\u2695\ufe0f\ud83e\ude7a\ud83d\udcbb\u2764\ud83c\udf78\u262e\ufe0f) 1657380758
\u201cDude was pantsed. \ud83e\udd23\n\nAlso, the answer was, \u201cNo.\u201d\u201d— Douglas E. Fresh\u2122 (@Douglas E. Fresh\u2122) 1657380385
\u201cAfter watching this video of Jeffrey Clark in handcuffs asking to put his pants on...I'm pretty sure a lot of people in Trump\u2019s orbit are now sleeping with their pants on.\n\nIf not, they should.\u201d— \u0938\u094b\u0928\u093e\u092e \u0926\u093e\u0908\u2022 (@\u0938\u094b\u0928\u093e\u092e \u0926\u093e\u0908\u2022) 1657340490
\u201cWho answers the door not wearing any pants ?\u201d— james leyva (@james leyva) 1657295454
\u201cPersonally, I tend to not answer the front door in my underwear.\u201d— wooden\u270cjesus \u270d\ud83c\udf0a (@wooden\u270cjesus \u270d\ud83c\udf0a) 1657305371
\u201cWelp, this is embarrassing... #DemVoice1\u201d— Renee Martinez (@Renee Martinez) 1657306566
\u201c:::SIGH::::: It's so inconvenient and troublesome when you get served with a search warrant\u201d— @PeggyBrava\u2122 \ud83c\udf3b #ExpandTheCourts #Vote \ud83d\uddf3\ufe0f (@@PeggyBrava\u2122 \ud83c\udf3b #ExpandTheCourts #Vote \ud83d\uddf3\ufe0f) 1657310206
\u201cSuch a weasel. Thought he was gonna be a big time Attorney General of the USA. When does this happen to Trump and all of his cronies?\u201d— WF Burnett \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\udf3b (@WF Burnett \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\udf3b) 1657287254
\u201cNew GOP Rule: \n\nPut pants on before answering the door.\u201d— Alien Jane Doe (@Alien Jane Doe) 1657293548
Clark later spoke to Fox News about the raid and cast himself as a victim, telling the network that “12 agents and two Fairfax County police officers went into my house, searched it for three and a half hours and took all of the electronics from my house!”
Clark even compared to FBI agents to East Germany's Stasi, one of the most effective and repressive intelligence and secret police agencies to have ever existed.
Claiming that "we're living in an era that I don't recognize," he said that "increasingly I don't recognize the country anymore with these kinds of Stasi-like things happening."
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