众议院特别委员会正在调查1月6日国会大厦遇袭周三，他们一致建议对前特朗普司法部官员杰弗里·克拉克(Jeffrey Clark)提出藐视法庭的指控，尽管专家组领导人同意给他一个机会，让他遵守他们本周末发出的传票。

最后一分钟的事态发展将推迟众议院的投票，以认定克拉克藐视国会，并在周六之前将此事提交给司法部，届时预计他将在国会山亲自在委员会面前维护他的第五修正案特权。

「我认为这是拖延专责委员会程序的最后一搏。然而，第五修正案的特权主张是有分量的。星期三晚上，在全体委员会投票之前说。

“我已经通知克拉克先生的律师，我愿意召开另一次听证会，克拉克先生可以在逐个问题的基础上主张这一特权，这是法律对主张不自证其罪特权的人的要求。克拉克先生已经同意这样做，”汤普森说。

Susan Walsh/POOL/AFP通过Getty Images，FILE

在这张2020年9月14日的档案照片中，环境部助理司法部长杰弗里·克拉克...

与特朗普顾问史蒂夫·班农不同，克拉克于11月5日与他的律师一起出现在委员会面前，回应他们索要记录和证词的传票。特朗普顾问被众议院以藐视国会罪拘留，并被司法部指控。

但他在90分钟后离开了，此前他拒绝回答任何问题，理由是该委员会对行政特权的主张提出质疑，以及特朗普正在对该小组的调查提出法律挑战。

克拉克拒绝回答关于他对佐治亚州选举法的了解以及他与国会议员的谈话的直接问题，委员会成员认为这两个问题都不属于任何行政特权的范围。

该委员会还试图就特朗普让司法部调查毫无根据的选举欺诈指控的努力向他提问。

在国会大厦骚乱之前，克拉克在推动特朗普在政府内部挑战选举结果的努力中发挥了突出作用。男性分发一封草稿信司法部内部敦促佐治亚州州长和佐治亚州高级官员召集州议会调查选民欺诈指控。

周二，委员会成员花了四个小时采访佐治亚州国务卿布拉德·拉芬斯佩格，一位熟悉采访的消息人士向美国广播公司证实了这一点。

拉芬斯珀格是压力运动从那时起，特朗普总统和他的助手和盟友去年就佐治亚州的总统选举结果进行了讨论。乔·拜登是近三十年来第一个在总统选举中赢得该州的民主党人。

Former Trump DOJ official set to plead the Fifth before Jan. 6 committee

The House select committee investigating theJan. 6 Capitol attackon Wednesday unanimously recommended contempt charges against former Trump Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, even as panel leaders agreed to give him an opportunity to comply with their subpoena this weekend.

The last-minute development will delay a House floor vote to hold Clark in contempt of Congress and refer the matter to the Justice Department before Saturday, when he is expected on Capitol Hill to assert his Fifth Amendment privilege before the committee in person.

"This is, in my view, a last-ditch attempt to delay the Select Committee’s proceedings. However, a Fifth Amendment privilege assertion is a weighty one," Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said Wednesday night, before the full committee vote.

"I have informed Mr. Clark’s attorney that I am willing to convene another deposition at which Mr. Clark can assert that privilege on a question-by-question basis, which is what the law requires of someone who asserts the privilege against self-incrimination. Mr. Clark has agreed to do so," Thompson said.

Unlike Trump adviser Steve Bannon, who was held in contempt of Congress by the House and charged by the Justice Department, Clark appeared before the committee with his attorney on Nov. 5, in response to their subpoena for records and testimony.

But he left after 90 minutes, after refusing to answer any questions, citing claims of executive privilege, which the committee has disputed, and Trump’s ongoing legal challenge to the panel’s inquiry.

Clark declined to answer direct questions about his knowledge of Georgia election law and his conversations with members of Congress, both of which committee members argued would not be covered by any claims of executive privilege.

The committee also sought to question him about Trump’s efforts to get the Justice Department to investigate baseless claims of election fraud.

Ahead of the Capitol riot, Clark played a prominent role advancing Trump's efforts to challenge the election results inside his administration. Hecirculated a draft letterinside the Justice Department to urge Georgia's governor and top Georgia officials to convene the state legislature to investigate voter fraud claims.

On Tuesday, committee members spent four hours interviewing Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a source familiar with the interview confirmed to ABC News.

Raffensperger was the target of apressure campaignfrom then-President Trump and his aides and allies last year over the results of the presidential election in Georgia. Joe Biden was the first Democrat to carry the state in a presidential election in nearly three decades.