Trump-appointed DOJ official claimed Chinese thermostats changed votes, reports say

A Donald Trump-appointed lawyer at the Justice Department claimed to senior officials there that China may have used special thermostats to tamper with ballots in the US election, according to reports.

As Congress gathers testimonies and evidence in its probe of the fatal insurrection at the Capitol, Jeffrey Clark – an environmental lawyer described as unassuming and cerebral by colleagues and in reports – is emerging as something of a figure of note in the saga of the 45th president’s attempts to subvert democracy.

With acting deputy attorney general Richard Donoghue providing a closed-door testimony to the House Judiciary Committee this week, new information further illustrates the lengths to which Mr Trump and his supporters appear to have been willing to go to overturn the election result.