Kristen Clarke, the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, is facing calls to resign after it was revealed she did not disclose a prior arrest for an alleged violent crime during her Senate confirmation process in 2021.
News reports uncovered that Clarke had been arrested in 2006 and accused of slicing her ex-husband’s finger with a knife during a domestic dispute.
“I was seeing another woman,” her ex-husband wrote in May of 2021.
“She was angry,” Avery added. “Attacked me with a knife. I instinctively grabbed it. As I said earlier, I’m not blameless.”
“That’s the story,” he said. “That’s what happened. She went to jail.”
While Clarke acknowledged the arrest, she maintained she was a victim of abuse and the charge had been expunged, so she did not feel obligated to disclose it.
“Nearly 2 decades ago, I was subjected to years-long abuse and domestic violence at the hands of my ex-husband,” Clarke stated.
“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.”
“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.”
Her lack of transparency has drawn criticism, particularly as she oversees civil rights issues and celebrated convictions of pro-life activists for obstructing abortion access.
“These defendants are being held accountable for unlawfully obstructing access to reproductive health services,” Clarke said.
Calls are increasing for Clarke to resign or be investigated for failing to provide full transparency in her confirmation.
