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- A Trump-appointed DOJ official asked his superiors to look into "foreign election interference issues."
- Newly released emails reveal Jeffrey Clark claimed China had changed voter ballots using thermostats.
- Clark also urged Georgia to investigate voter irregularities, despite DOJ stating there were none.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Jeffrey Clark, a Donald Trump-appointed Justice Department official, told senior officials that China used thermostats to change ballots in the 2020 presidential election.
In a recently released email from December 2020, Clark wrote to his superiors including acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen and his deputy, Richard Donoghue, and asked them to look into "foreign election interference issues".
Clark claimed that hackers had evidence that "a Dominion machine accessed the Internet through a smart thermostat with a net connection trail leading back to China."
The emails were obtained by the House Oversight Committee and reported on by ABC.
In recent weeks Clark has emerged as a key figure in assisting Donald Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
Trump made Clark acting assistant attorney general of the Justice Department's civil division in September 2020, and according to the New York Times, the two later plotted to oust Jeffrey Rosen and appoint Clark as acting attorney general.
As Insider previously reported, Trump had told Justice Department officials on December 27, including Rosen and Donoghue, to "just say that the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me."
A recently released email sent by Clark from December 28 revealed he had attempted to use the power of the Justice Department to intervene in Georgia's election.
Clark had written to his superiors and asked them to convene a special session of the state legislature to investigate claims of voter fraud.
His colleagues at the Justice Department ultimately refused, stating they had found no evidence of widespread fraud.
Clark made the comments about the Chinese thermostats in an email accompanying this exchange.
The accusation that China intervened in the 2020 election has been widely debunked, despite continued allegations from prominent Trump supporters.
Clark isn't scheduled yet for an interview with the House Select Committee which is investigating the Capitol riot, according to CNN.
The outlet reported that Clark is awaiting access to documents the committee has and to see whether a fight over the secrecy of presidential discussions materializes.