[15], On January 6, 2021, Eastman presented a speech at the White House Trump rally that preceded the 2021 United States Capitol attack. Even after the insurrection, Eastman was still trying to overturn the election Even after Jan. 6, Eastman was still talking about the 2020 election not yet being certain. The 61-year-old lawyer's rsum features some of the top credentials of the conservative legal movement: clerkships with former Judge Michael Luttig and Justice Clarence Thomas, the chairmanship. But Eastman seemed to initially enter Trumps orbit after a 2019 appearance on Fox News, which led Trump to invite Eastman to the Oval Office, the New York Times reported last year. [43][44] He is both a member of the board and on the faculty at the Claremont Institute. In the months following the election, however, the Trump campaign received information from numerous credible sources, including Attorney General of the United States William Barr and members of Trumps inner circle of advisors, that there was no evidence of widespread election fraud or illegality that could have affected the outcome of the election, the notice states. The cause was pancreatic cancer, said his son Lee, a partner in their longstanding Manhattan family law firm, Eastman & Eastman. [122]. The email content in question was a comment by an unidentified attorney that litigating a case regarding the January 6 session in Congress might "tank the January 6 strategy" and so the Trump legal team should avoid the courts. As Trumps legal avenues to overturn his reelection loss grew thinner, Eastman offered up an unconventional strategy based on fringe legal theories: Eastman argued Vice President Mike Pencein his role as Senate presidentcould refuse to count some of Bidens electoral votes during the joint session of Congress on January 6, 2021. [37] Cooley advanced to the 2010 California Attorney General election, where he was defeated by Kamala Harris. Last week, Carter ruled 440 records were privileged but ordered Eastman to hand over another 159. Tuesday, March 1, 2022 Categories: News Releases The State Bar of California's Chief Trial Counsel George Cardona announced today that since September 2021, his office has been conducting an investigation of John Charles Eastman (State Bar No. The others had other ideas. The lawyer spoke at Trumps rally that day at the Ellipse. [35] On April 1, a Superior Court judge denied Eastman's choice for ballot designation as "Assistant Attorney General", fearing that use of this title, temporarily granted by South Dakota for his work on a lawsuit, would be misperceived as a California title. [106], On June 7, Carter ruled that Eastman must disclose an additional 159 sensitive documents to the committee. Any discipline such as suspension or disbarring then has to be approved by the California Supreme Court. John Eastman is an American lawyer with an estimated net worth of $5 million. Many fans offered condolences after reading Paul's heartfelt . Trump lawyer Herschmann testified that on the morning of Jan. 6 he received a call from. [96] Eastman relinquished nearly 8,000 emails to the committee in February 2022 but asserted privilege for about 11,000 others. Kamala Harris was born in the United States. The Supreme Court has held this since the 1890s. Rather, the op-ed focused on the "long-standing, somewhat arcane legal debate about the precise meaning of the phrase 'subject to the jurisdiction thereof' in the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment", also known as the jus sanguinis or jus soli debate. Eastman faces 11 disciplinary charges, all arising from allegations that he was behind Trumps plan to obstruct the count of electoral votes. He was 83. [51] However, Axios noted that other constitutional scholars do not accept Eastman's view, labeling it "baseless". Carter noted one email in particular that contained what he found was likely evidence of a crime and ordered it disclosed under the crime-fraud exception to the attorney-client privilege. [105], In a late-night court filing on May 19, 2022, Eastman disclosed he had routinely communicated with Trump directly or via "six conduits" regarding legal strategy leading up to January 6, detailing "two hand-written notes from former President Trump about information that he thought might be useful for the anticipated litigation." With the Eastmans guidance, Mr. McCartney also acquired ownership of all of his recordings and songwriting rights since the breakup of the Beatles. February 14, 2022. The Eastmans became involved in the fight over the Beatles business empire in early 1969. Such designations typically reflect a candidate's current employment or elected office. Eastman's brief included an array of unfounded claims and asserted "It is not necessary for [Trump] to prove that fraud occurred," and asserted it was enough to show that elections "materially deviated" from the intent of state lawmakers, adding, "By failing to follow the rule of law, these officials put our nation's belief in elected self-government at risk. [31], In 1990 Eastman was unopposed in the primary to become the Republican challenger of long-time 34th District incumbent Esteban Torres in California's San Gabriel Valley. [121] On January 26, 2023, Eastman was charged with multiple disciplinary counts by the State Bar of California. [72] On January 5, 2021, Eastman met with Pence in the Oval Office to argue, incorrectly, that the vice president has the constitutional authority to alter or otherwise change electoral votes. [56], This op-ed was cited by the New York Times as helping Eastman come to the attention of Jenna Ellis, a Trump campaign adviser. As part of their preparations for the case, Mr. Eastman suggested that his brother-in-law wear a suit and tie to court. The California bar determined Eastman made, "false and misleading statements that constitute acts of dishonesty, and corruption." Stephen K. Bannon welcomed Conservative attorney, legal scholar, and professor of law John Eastman on Monday's War Room: Pandemic to explain his attorney's letter to Congress citing the illegitimacy of his subpoena regarding the January 6 committee hearings. If Dr. Eastman and President Trumps plan had worked, it would have permanently ended the peaceful transition of power, undermining American democracy and the Constitution., Eastmans interest in the election didnt seem to evaporate after the January 6 riot. [50], All prominent legal scholars disagreed with Eastman's position, and many compared it to the birtherism theory against President Barack Obama. Giuliani will join his colleague John Eastman in the dubious distinction of . As the House January 6 panel unpacks the results of its months-long probe, lawmakers are expected to spend part of their Thursday hearing examining the role of John Eastman, a once-obscure legal scholar who vaulted into former President Donald Trumps inner circle ahead of the Capitol riot by pushing dubious legal strategies to keep Trump in office. (Chesebro apparently referred to Trump's tweet five days earlier inviting supporters to a "wild" January 6 protest.) [112][113] Federal judge Robert Brack rejected Eastman's request on July 15. In March 1971, the judge ruled in Mr. McCartneys favor, appointing a receiver for the Beatles business interests until the dissolution of their partnership could be negotiated, which came several years later. Both were legal quagmires that flouted the U.S. Constitutionand Trump had a lawyer for each one. A University of Chicago Law School graduate who clerked for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Eastman has taught constitutional law for decades. [2][5] He is a former law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. [97], As Eastman sought to withhold some emails, in March 2022 the committee continued to seek them, stating in a federal court filing that the evidence it had acquired "provides, at minimum, a good-faith basis for concluding" Trump and his campaign violated multiple laws in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States by attempting to prevent Congress from certifying his defeat. [109], Days after it became known Eastman and Thomas had communicated by email, Eastman posted on his new Substack blog one email that he captioned, "OMG, Mrs. Thomas asked me to give an update about election litigation to her group. 193726).The 11 charges arise from allegations that Eastman engaged in a course of conduct to plan, promote, and assist then-President Trump in executing a strategy, unsupported by facts or law, to overturn . The well-known lawyer had known the former Beatles vocalist for over 50 years. [117], On October 4, 2021, a bipartisan group of attorneys, including two former federal judges and two former justices of the California Supreme Court, filed a complaint with the State Bar of California asking for an investigation of Eastman relating to "his representation of former President Donald J. Trump in efforts to discredit and overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Andy Cross/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post/Getty Images. The request came a few days after a heated exchange between Herschmann and Eastman that ended with Herschmann suggesting that Eastman hire a criminal defense lawyer. [emailprotected], Law&Crime's managing editor Adam Klasfeld has spent more than a decade on the legal beat. John Eastman, a lawyer and fellow at a right-wing think tank, is now desperately downplaying the memos he wrote before January 6 laying out how then-Vice President Mike Pence could overturn the election and subvert the will of the American people. [57] Pence rejected Eastman's argument and instead agreed with his counsel, Greg Jacob, and conservative legal scholars and other advisors, such as John Yoo and J. Michael Luttig. Mr. McCartney half-complied: He appeared in a suit, but no tie. [38], Eastman is chairman of the Federalist Society's practice group on federalism and separation of powers. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's campaign paid John Eastman in January for unspecified "legal services." The payment was made to Constitutional Counsel Group, a firm founded by the Trump lawyer.. [23], In 1989, prior to attending law school, Eastman served as the director of Congressional and public affairs at the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Later in the day, when the rioters were expelled from the Capitol and Pence was again presiding over Congress, Eastman told Jacob in another e-mail that Pence should still refuse to certify the election results:[83] Now that the precedent has been set that the Electoral Count Act is not quite so sacrosanct as was previously claimed, I implore you to consider one more relatively minor violation and adjourn for 10 days to allow the legislatures to finish their investigations as well as to allow the full forensic audit of the massive amount of illegal activity that occurred here, Eastman wrote. [41][42] He is a director of the Public Interest Legal Foundation, which brings election lawsuits. The plan called for legislators to express concern about absentee ballots to justify disqualifying tens of thousands of them, then using historical voting data to "discount each candidates' totals by a prorated amount" to arrive at a significant Trump lead. A day after the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, the conservative lawyer John Eastman went looking for someone in then-President Donald Trump's orbit to discuss an issue involving his effort . The finding came in the context of civil litigation involving discovery by the Jan. 6th Committee. Trump lawyer John Eastman takes Fifth at Georgia grand jury Key Points A lawyer who pushed to overturn the 2020 election loss of then-President Donald Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment. Eastman purchased the unit at. [55] Lorelei Laird, in an Above The Law article, pointed out that Eastman was arguing that Harris was not even a U.S. [68][69][70], On January 2, 2021, Eastman joined Trump, the president's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and others in a conference call with 300 Republican legislators from Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin to brief them on allegations of voter fraud, with the objective of the legislators attempting to decertify their states' election results. John Eastman, an ally of Donald Trump who authored a memo outlining how to . "My dear brother-in-law, John. We've received your submission. Another lawyer, John Eastman, responded that he was in agreement, saying that if Thomas were to act, "that may be enough to kick the Georgia Legislature into gear because I've been getting a . The California bar slapped former President Donald Trumps attorney John Eastman with nearly a dozen disciplinary charges for false and misleading statements alleging fraud in the 2020 election. Mr. Klein had a reputation as a ferocious negotiator and, as Mick Jagger once described him, a gangster figure the opposite of the refined Eastmans, whose townhouse office in Manhattan was lined with museum-quality paintings by de Kooning and others. Eastman laid out this plan in a pair of January 2021 memos obtained by news outlets last year, and reportedly spoke with Pence and his team in the leadup to January 6 to win him overbut Pence and his advisors firmly rejected Eastmans argument. [52], Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of Berkeley Law School, told the BBC, "Under section 1 of the 14th Amendment, anyone born in the United States is a United States citizen. Yates declined to answer . The article was harshly criticized as both a bizarre reading of constitutional law and a possible wink to the birther conspiracy theory, which falsely contended former President Barack Obama wasnt born in the United States. There is nothing more sacrosanct to our American democracy than free and fair elections and the peaceful transfer of power, said State Bar of California chief trial counsel George Cardona, according to a report by Law & Crime. Some legal experts said his continued efforts might increase his criminal legal exposure, though if he were charged he might assert his persistent efforts showed he truly believed the election was stolen. Scholars say there's no VP eligibility debate", "The White Supremacist "Scholars" Pushing the Kamala Harris Birther Lie", "Newsweek apologizes for op-ed questioning Harris eligibility", "Ahead of Jan. 6, Willard hotel in downtown D.C. was a Trump team 'command center' for effort to deny Biden the presidency", "During Jan. 6 riot, Trump attorney told Pence team the vice president's inaction caused attack on Capitol", "Trump lawyer John Eastman said 'courage and the spine' would help Pence send election to the House in comments before January 6", "Trump Lawyer Blamed Pence for Violence as Rioters Stormed Capitol - John Eastman, the author of a memo that some in both parties liken to a blueprint for a coup, sent a hostile email to the vice president's chief counsel as the mob attacked", "Washington Post: Trump lawyer John Eastman blamed Pence for January 6 violence by refusing to block 2020 election certification", "The most shocking new revelation about John Eastman - He and Trump were not just pressing forward despite the mob; they apparently were trying to leverage it", "Memo shows Trump lawyer's six-step plan for Pence to overturn the election", "UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA SOUTHERN DIVISION JOHN C. EASTMAN Plaintiff, vs. BENNIE G. THOMPSON, et al., Defendants.