Entertainment
DOJ Official Kristen Clarke Reveals 2006 Arrest Despite Denying Legal Challenges During 2021 Confirmation Process
The DOJ official previously said she was never arrested.
May 2, 2024, published at 4:00 PM ET
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke admitted she didn’t tell the whole truth about her arrest during testimony at her 2021 Senate confirmation hearing, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Clarke, head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division, explained that she did not make her 2006 arrest public because it had been expunged from her record.
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The assistant attorney general admitted she lied to lawmakers about her arrest history.
During her Senate confirmation hearing, Clarke was asked by the Republican senator. Tom Cotton, “Since becoming a legal adult, have you ever been arrested for or charged with committing a violent crime against anyone?” to which Clarke replied, “No.”
Reporting from the Daily Signal on Tuesday, revealing that she had been arrested in Maryland in connection with a 2006 domestic violence incident involving her ex-husband, Reginald Avery.
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Senator Cotton asked Clarke if she had “ever been arrested” during her 2021 Senate confirmation hearing.
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According to the report, which cited court documents and text messages, Avery claimed his finger was “cut to the bone” after his ex-wife allegedly wielded a knife against him after he confessed to cheating on her.
Charges against Clarke were eventually dropped and a year later she filed paperwork that would expunge the arrest from her criminal record, which she addressed in a statement Wednesday.
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Clarke was arrested in Maryland in connection with a 2006 domestic violence incident involving her ex-husband.
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“Nearly 20 years ago, I was subjected to years of abuse and domestic violence by my ex-husband,” Clarke said in one statement to CNN.
“This was a terrorizing and traumatizing period that I chose to put behind me in order to promote my personal health, healing and well-being,” the DOJ official continued. “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.”
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Clarke said that because the arrest was expunged from her record, she did not have to disclose the incident during her confirmation hearing.
“When I was given the opportunity to talk about such traumatic incidents in my life, I chose not to. I believed during my confirmation process and I do not believe now that I was obliged to share a completely deleted issue from my past.”
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Clarke explained that the charges had been dropped and the arrest had been expunged from her record.
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Despite calls from at least one Republican lawmaker that Clarke should resign because she lied in her testimony, the assistant attorney general has made clear she has no intention of doing so.
“As I have done at every stage of my career as a lifelong public servant, I will continue to work to ensure we carry out our work in a way that centers the experiences and needs of crime victims,” Clarke said.
