Jeffrey Clark, a Donald Trump-appointed environment law chief at the Justice Department at the center of the former President's efforts to overturn the election, received a high-level intelligence briefing around New Year's 2021 that did little to stop his efforts to prove foreign interference had cost Trump reelection.

Clark is now a major figure in the narrative being written in documents and testimony from former Justice Department officials who were forced to fight off his efforts to orchestrate a coup of leadership at the Justice Department and use it to help the former President.

A stark portrayal of Clark is emerging from former Trump-appointed officials who were alarmed by his backchannel efforts to the White House and to Trump allies, and who now are now providing testimony to congressional committees. Richard Donoghue, acting deputy attorney general beginning in late December, provided a closed-door interview to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday.