Justin R. Clark
Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison
In office
March 18, 2018 – December 7, 2018
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded byJohnny DeStefano
Succeeded bySteve Munisteri (acting)
Director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs
In office
January 20, 2017 – March 13, 2018
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded byJerry Abramson
Succeeded byDouglas Hoelscher
Personal details
Born
Justin Reilly Clark[1]

(1975-06-03) June 3, 1975 (age 48)
Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
EducationWesleyan University (BA)
University of Hartford (MPA)
University of Connecticut (JD)

Justin Reilly "JC" Clark (born June 3, 1975) is an American attorney, former government official, and former presidential campaign official for Donald J. Trump.[2] He served as Director of Public Liaison and Director of Intergovernmental Affairs at the White House under the Trump administration.[3][4] Prior to his government service, Clark was a partner at the law firm of Davis, Clark & Bonafonte LLC.[5]

Early life and education

Clark grew up in West Hartford, Connecticut, and attended Conard High School. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Wesleyan University.[5] Majoring in economics Clark invested a large part of his education in mathematics and statistical analysis that formed the basis of his approach to politics later in life. While at Wesleyan, he lettered as a midfielder and a defenseman for the varsity lacrosse team and was a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity.[6] He received his Juris Doctor from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 2004.[5]

Career

After graduating from law school, he clerked for Associate Justice Peter T. Zarella of the Connecticut Supreme Court and was appointed by Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell to serve on the Judicial Review Council from 2009 to 2013.[6][7]

Clark was a co-founder of the Connecticut-based law firm Davis, Clark & Bonafonte LLC, where his practice focused on litigation in state and federal trial and appellate courts. He also provided general counsel services to clients, advised them on compliance matters, and represented them before various regulatory bodies. As a part of that practice he served various state and national campaigns and committees. He managed Tom Foley's unsuccessful gubernatorial campaigns in 2010 and 2014.[5] He was also political director for Linda McMahon's unsuccessful 2012 United States Senate campaign.[8] In both efforts Clark applied a data driven approach with a qualitative understanding of the electorate to lead his candidates to surprise wins at their respective state party conventions. In 2015, he worked on Matt Bevin's successful gubernatorial campaign in Kentucky where, among other things, he successfully developed and executed the plan to preserve an 83-vote margin in a recanvass of votes in the May primary.[9][10]

Prior to joining the Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign, Clark served as Director of Operations for the unsuccessful Chris Christie 2016 presidential campaign.[11]

Clark was hired by Donald Trump's presidential campaign in March 2016 as the campaign's Connecticut state director, and later served as an advisor to the campaign during the Indiana Republican primary in May 2016.[12] In June 2016, he was named Deputy National Political Director of the campaign and served in that capacity through the end of the election.[11] In that role he developed and implemented a 50-state political and field strategy and during the 2016 Republican National Convention, served as one of the chief whips for the campaign on the rules committee and on the floor.[13] Throughout the general election Clark condensed and applied analytics and polling data to help guide the team that directed spending and candidate travel. He later headed the campaign's recount efforts in Michigan and served as the chief whip for the campaign in the electoral college.[14][15][16] After the election, Clark served on the Presidential transition team.[13]

Clark became the President's Director of Intergovernmental Affairs on January 20, 2017.[13] He was appointed the Director of Public Liaison in March 2018.[3] In that role, Clark oversaw the political aspects of the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court.[17] In December 2018, Clark and White House political director Bill Stepien were named Senior Political Advisors to the President's re-election campaign focusing on delegate and party organization.[16] Clark is also Senior Counsel to the President's re-election campaign focused on compliance and election day operations.[18] In 2019, Clark was surreptitiously recorded telling Wisconsin Republicans that "traditionally it’s always been Republicans suppressing votes in places" and that 2020 would be the time to "start playing offense a little bit" to protect their voters.[19] In response to the recording, Clark said "Republicans historically have been falsely accused of voter suppression." In 2020, Clark was appointed as a member of the President's Commission on White House Fellowships.[20] Clark was named Deputy Campaign Manager of the President's re-election campaign in July 2020.

In 2021, Clark and Jesse R. Binnall filed Donald Trump's appeal to the Washington, D.C. circuit court in a failed effort to thwart the release of documents relating to the 2021 United States Capitol attack.[21] According to a court filing, on June 29, 2022, Clark was interviewed by the FBI related to the criminal contempt case of Steve Bannon, who was convicted of contempt of congress for defying a subpoena from the Jan. 6 select committee.[22]

References

  1. ^ "Justin Reilly Clark". www.martindale.com.
  2. ^ Sherman, Jake (December 7, 2018). "POLITICO Playbook: White House moves". Politico. Retrieved February 2, 2019.
  3. ^ a b Jacobs, Jennifer (March 13, 2018). "Trump Chooses Clark to Lead Public Liaison Office". Bloomberg. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  4. ^ "Justin Clark named to White House staff". CT Mirror. January 20, 2017. Retrieved May 20, 2017.
  5. ^ a b c d Pazniokas, Mark (January 20, 2017). "Justin Clark named to White House staff". Hartford Business Journal. Retrieved May 25, 2017.
  6. ^ a b Lipman, Gili. "Clark '97 Joins the Trump Administration". The Wesleyan Argus. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  7. ^ "Advanced Legislative Document Search". Connecticut General Assembly. Retrieved June 10, 2017.
  8. ^ Dixon, Ken (October 6, 2012). "McMahon, Murphy's Inner Circles a Sharp Contrast". Connecticut Post. Retrieved January 5, 2018.
  9. ^ Blinder, Alan (May 29, 2015). "Matt Bevin Prevails as James Comer Concedes Kentucky Governor Primary". The New York Times. New York Times. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  10. ^ "Bevin, Matt / Hampton, Jenean Slate - Statewide Primary - 05/19/2015 15 Day Pre - 05/04/201". Kentucky Registry of Election Finance. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  11. ^ a b Vigdor, Neil (August 17, 2016). "Trump campaign shakeup reverberates in Conn". Retrieved May 28, 2017.
  12. ^ Keating, Christopher (April 11, 2016). "Suddenly It Matters: GOP And Democrats Gear Up For Connecticut Primary". Hartford Courant. Retrieved May 28, 2017.
  13. ^ a b c Keating, Christopher (January 20, 2017). "West Hartford's Justin Clark Gets White House Post". courant.com. Retrieved May 20, 2017.
  14. ^ Sharp, Nick (December 9, 2017). "What I Saw at the Michigan Recount". medium.com. Retrieved January 5, 2018.
  15. ^ "Exclusive: Clinton aides kept tabs on anti-Trump elector gambit". politico.com. December 22, 2016. Retrieved May 20, 2017.
  16. ^ a b Isenstadt, Alex (January 7, 2019). "Trump campaign moves to stave off mayhem at 2020 convention". Politico. Retrieved February 2, 2019.
  17. ^ Gearan, Anne (July 2, 2018). "Trump meets with four 'outstanding' Supreme Court candidates". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
  18. ^ Dixon, Lisa (March 11, 2019). "2019 National Election Law Seminar (Day 1 of 2)". Republican National Lawyers Association. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
  19. ^ Bauer, Scott (December 20, 2019). "Trump adviser: Expect more aggressive poll watching in 2020". Associated Press. Retrieved February 15, 2019.
  20. ^ "President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate and Appoint Individuals to Key Administration Posts". whitehouse.gov. February 11, 2020. Archived from the original on January 20, 2021. Retrieved April 23, 2020 – via National Archives.
  21. ^ Circuit Judge Millett. "Trump v. Thompson, et al." United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 9 Dec. 2021. Retrieved 23 Jan 2022.
  22. ^ "Trump lawyer interviewed with FBI about Bannon contempt case". Politico. July 11, 2022.
Political offices Preceded byJerry Abramson Director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs 2017–2018 Succeeded byDouglas Hoelscher Succeeded byValerie Jarrettas Director of the Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs Preceded byJohnny DeStefano Director of the Office of Public Liaison 2018 Succeeded bySteve MunisteriActing
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