[57], In early December 2020, Trump contacted Eastman, asking him to challenge the results of the 2020 United States presidential election before the Supreme Court. The Daily Beast reports that the plaintiffs are seeking to pierce attorney-client privilege under the crime-fraud . [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. In March, federal Judge David Carter called Eastman and Trumps post-election efforts a coup in search of a legal theory, and argued its more likely than not that President Trump and Dr. Eastman dishonestly conspired to obstruct the Joint Session of Congress., Dr. [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. The lawyer also repped Trump, 76, in a Supreme Court case seeking to overturn the election results in four states where Trump alleged there d been voter fraud. Son of Paul McCartney's Late Lawyer Buys $27M Co-op - The Real Deal Who is John Eastman, the Trump lawyer at the center of the Jan. 6 "My dear brother-in-law, John. Legal Ethics, Bar Discipline and John Eastman - Lawfare [2][3] He is a former professor and dean at the Chapman University School of Law. John Eastman - Wikipedia [96] Eastman relinquished nearly 8,000 emails to the committee in February 2022 but asserted privilege for about 11,000 others. [126] Eastman published a statement the next day saying that those who publicly condemned him "have created such a hostile environment for me that I no longer wish to be a member of the Chapman faculty, and am therefore retiring from my position, effective immediately." Alaskan Who Sued To Boot Oath Keeper From Office: We Tried To 'Not Give Washington A federal judge on Tuesday ordered John Eastman, a conservative lawyer who devised the legal strategy to keep former President Donald Trump in power after he lost the 2020 election . [32][33][34], On February 1, 2010, Eastman resigned as dean of the Chapman University School of Law to pursue the Republican nomination for California Attorney General. Or to keep it anonymous, click here. Federal authorities had not identified the man as an antifa activist. Eastman has received widespread attention for his role as attorney to then president Donald Trump during which he suggested that vice president Mike Pence could refuse the results of some states' election results during the 2020 United States presidential election. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. 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. Trump Lawyer John Eastman Faces Disbarment Action in California (Courtesy of the Eastmans) A GROUP calling itself The 65 Project has targeted nearly 100 lawyers, including me, state attorneys general and . John Eastman, an ally of Donald Trump who authored a memo outlining how to . John Eastman's California bar danger could hurt him at the Supreme Chesebro responded: "the odds of action before Jan. 6 will become more favorable if the justices start to fear that there will be 'wild' chaos on Jan. 6 unless they rule by then, either way." Andy Cross/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post/Getty Images. The court had already rejected a major election challenge, Texas v. Pennsylvania, 13 days earlier, and the participants in Eastman's email exchange were discussing whether to file papers in the hopes that four U.S. Supreme Court justices would agree to hear a Wisconsin case. Eastman faces 11 disciplinary charges, all arising from allegations that he was behind Trumps plan to obstruct the count of electoral votes. 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. A federal judge in California previously found that Trump and Eastman more likely than not violated two felony statutes in their attempts to overturn the election: obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy to defraud the United States. No law professor played a bigger role in Donald Trump's plot to overturn the election than John Eastman. The lawyer spoke at Trumps rally that day at the Ellipse. To break Mr. Kleins grip over the band, and to secure Mr. McCartneys independence, Mr. Eastman masterminded a lawsuit, filed in London on Dec. 31, 1970, to dissolve the Beatles partnership agreement. 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. Axios also criticized Eastman for dismissing the eligibility concerns of 2016 presidential candidate Ted Cruz, born in Calgary, Canada, in a 2016 National Review op-ed, claiming they were "silly". The well-known lawyer had known the former Beatles vocalist for over 50 years. Trump lawyer outlined plan to overturn election in newly disclosed memo Eastman also grabbed Trumps attention ahead of the 2020 election, when he suggested in a Newsweek op-ed that Bidens then-running mate Kamala Harris might not be eligible for the vice presidency because its unclear what immigration status her parents held when she was born in California. According to Eastman, he caught COVID-19 at that time. 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. Who is John Eastman and why is he important to the Jan. 6 hearings? On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. says there is no evidence antifa participated in storming the Capitol", "Giuliani uses unfounded 'Antifa' argument to defend Trump", "Facebook posts wrongly claim left-wing activist, antifa 'incited' US Capitol mob", "Man who shot video of fatal Capitol shooting is arrested, remains focus of political storm", "Eastman takes the Fifth with Jan. 6 committee", "Trump lawyer pleaded the fifth on 146 Capitol riot questions", "Trump lawyer ordered to respond to January 6 committee subpoena for his Chapman University emails", "Trump lawyer John Eastman turns over 8,000 emails to January 6 committee and withholds 11,000", "Jan. 6 committee concludes Trump violated multiple laws in effort to overturn election", "Jan. 6 panel concludes Trump likely broke laws in trying to overturn election", "Jan. 6 committee alleges Trump, allies engaged in potential 'criminal conspiracy' by trying to block Congress from certifying election", "Trump lawyer knew plan to delay Biden certification was unlawful, emails show", "Trump likely committed felony obstruction, federal judge rules", "Trump Allies Continue Legal Drive to Erase His Loss, Stoking Election Doubts", "John Eastman reportedly pressures Wisconsin legislature to decertify 2020 election", "Eastman provides new details of Trump's direct role in legal effort to overturn election", "Judge sends another trove of Eastman emails to Jan. 6 committee", "Ginni Thomas corresponded with John Eastman, sources in Jan. 6 House investigation say", "The House Jan. 6 panel wants to interview the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas", "Ginni Thomas-tied Facebook group 'FrontLiners for Liberty' could be a new focus in Jan. 6 investigation", "Speaker at meeting of Ginni Thomas group called Biden's win illegitimate long after Jan. 6, video shows", "Federal Agents Seized Phone of John Eastman, Key Figure in Jan. 6 Plan", "John Eastman searched and had phone seized by federal agents last week, he says", "John Eastman loses emergency request to protect his phone data from DOJ investigators", "Federal prosecutors obtain warrant to search lawyer John Eastman's cell phone in January 6 criminal probe", "Judge says Trump knew his voter fraud numbers were false, orders ex-lawyer to give more emails to Jan. 6 committee", "Trump lawyers saw Justice Thomas as 'only chance' to stop 2020 election certification", "Group files complaint with California bar association against John Eastman, lawyer who advised Trump on election challenges", "Request for Investigation of John C. Eastman, California Bar Number 193726", "California bar investigating Trump lawyer for ethic breaches", "Trump lawyer John Eastman's law license in California may be in jeopardy", California seeks to disbar Trump adviser John Eastman over January 6 charges, "Letters to the Editor: Chapman University faculty: John Eastman doesn't belong on our campus", "John Eastman's Statement on His Retirement from Chapman University's Fowler School of Law", "California professor who spoke at Trump rally retires", "CU Boulder cancels courses taught by conservative scholar John Eastman, citing single-digit enrollment", "CU Boulder strips John Eastman of public duties following professor's speech at Trump rally that preceded Capitol riot", "Jan. 6 Committee Refers Former President Trump for Criminal Prosecution", "VIPs expect special treatment. Former lawyer of former President Donald Trump, John Eastman, appears on screen during the fourth hearing by the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the US Capitol. John Eastman Retires From Chapman University - Forbes [51] However, Axios noted that other constitutional scholars do not accept Eastman's view, labeling it "baseless". [114] Federal investigators obtained a subsequent warrant to search the phone on July 12. It Wasn't Pretty", "Fact check: No, Pence can't overturn the election results", "AP FACT CHECK: Trump's false claims, fuel on a day of chaos", "FACT CHECK: What Pence And Congress Can And Can't Do About The Election", "Chapman University will not fire law professor who spoke at pro-Trump Capitol rally", "Chapman University President Condemns Controversial Law Professor Who Aided Trump", "CU Boulder won't fire conservative scholar who spread "repugnant" conspiracy theories at D.C. rally", "Faculty call for firing of Chapman University professor who spoke at pro-Trump rally", "What if there had been no adults in the room on January 6? The state bar of California charged Eastman, a former personal lawyer to Trump, with 11 counts of ethics violations, including misleading courts and making false public statements about voter. Have a tip or story idea? The two-page memo from attorney John Eastman first was reported in the new book "Peril" by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa; CNN also obtained a copy of the plan, which hinged on Electoral College . "[21][102], Seventeen months after the election, Eastman continued to press state legislatures to "de-certify" their election results. [4] More than 60 courts rejected election fraud claims by Trump and his allies. That lawyer, John Eastman, is a member in good standing of the conservative legal establishment. Kamala Harris was born in the United States. Just days after the Capitol riot, over 100 Chapman University faculty members signed an open letter arguing Eastman does not belong on our campus, and Chapman President Daniele Struppa denounced Eastman but rebuffed calls to fire him. The State Bar of California charged Eastman, a former personal lawyer to Trump, with 11 counts of ethics violations, including misleading courts and making false public statements about . Not only did he help me massively in my business dealings as my lawyer but as a friend he was hard to beat.. In addition to his son Lee, he is survived by his wife, Josephine; another son, Jay; a daughter, Louise; two sisters, Louise Weed and Laura Malcolm; and 11 grandchildren. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images) California bar unveils disciplinary charges against Trump lawyer John And Eastman wasn't the only one of Trump's legal henchman who knew the plan wasn't legally viable. With the Eastmans guidance, Mr. McCartney also acquired ownership of all of his recordings and songwriting rights since the breakup of the Beatles. We've received your submission. Eastman responded that "Mike Pence is an establishment guy" who fears that Trump is "destroying the inside-the-Beltway Republican Party. "My dear brother-in-law, John Eastman, has passed . Eastman Trumps personal lawyer when he was in office penned a six-step legal plan claiming then-Vice President Mike Pence didnt have to accept the election results in certain swing states, which Pence rejected. Their connection was both professional and personal. [66] In a video taken secretly and made public that same month, Eastman suggested he believed that Pence's actions served Washington politics. [25], Following law school, he clerked for Judge J. Michael Luttig at the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and for Justice Clarence Thomas at the Supreme Court of the United States; he then was an attorney with the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis, specializing in civil and constitutional litigation. The Supreme Court has held this since the 1890s. [45][46][47] He sits on the board of advisors of St. Monica Academy[48] and the advisory board of the St. Thomas More Law Society of Orange County. John Eastman: Should we leave him alone? - lcsun-news.com John Eastman, the former Donald Trump lawyer and possible future Trump co-defendant, has added the potential loss of his California law license to his list of troubles. While it is unlikely that conservative lawyer John Eastman will testify publicly before the Jan. 6 committee, his name and the legal advice he gave former . John Eastman's and Greg Jacob's tense email exchange, annotated - The Who was lawyer John Eastman as Paul McCartney's brother-in-law dies at 83? As the president's actual attorneys backed away from his coup, Eastman rushed in to . John Eastman, a law professor at the Fowler School of Law at Chapman University who had drawn increasing scrutiny over his controversial involvement with some of Donald Trump's more. Former Trump lawyer John Eastman pleads the 5th (yes, again) FBI seized the phone of former President Donald Trump's election attorney John Eastman last week, according to a new court filing from the conservative lawyer. John Eastman, a Republican lawyer who allegedly played a leading role in the overall coup scheme, reportedly pleaded the Fifth with both the Jan. 6 committee and a Georgia special grand jury . The Bar's committee chair said, "For California attorneys, adherence to the U.S. and California Constitutions is their highest legal duty,"[123] adding Eastman, "violated this duty in furtherance of an attempt to usurp the will of the American people and overturn election results for the highest office in the land an egregious and unprecedented attack on our democracy for which he must be held accountable. [91] Black Lives Matter Utah had for months disassociated itself from Sullivan on concerns he might be associated with the Proud Boys. Trump lawyer linked to 'coup memo' tells judge claims of criminal Judge calls 'illegality' of Trump plan to overturn election 'obvious' That was what Dr Eastman was urging. John Eastman Trying to Shield Jan. 6 Committee From 11,000 Documents At Wikipedia, don't even ask. The others had other ideas. The Thomas email was among those Carter ordered Eastman to release to the January 6 committee. The next year, after briefly working in the office of the United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York, he and his father set up Eastman & Eastman. John Eastman: Should we leave him alone? - yahoo.com 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. Law Professor John Eastman on Steve Bannon's War Room Explains Why John Eastman, the mediocre lawyer who apparently participated in a treasonous effort to veto the 2020 U.S. Presidential popular vote and electoral count, resides in Santa Fe, which annoys many . Jacob wrote to Eastman, "Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege." [43][44] He is both a member of the board and on the faculty at the Claremont Institute. Eastman purchased the unit at. [124][125] Four days later, Chapman announced that Eastman had agreed to retire from the university, and the university's president, Daniele C. Struppa, said that Eastman and the university had "agreed not to engage in legal actions of any kind, including any claim of defamation that may currently exist, as both parties move forward". 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 . Giuliani will join his colleague John Eastman in the dubious distinction of . Any lawyer engaged to provide his or her legal assessment in a dynamic, consequential, and often emotional arena should be deeply troubled by the notion that a licensing authority (bar) can take their license if they do not like the lawyers advice, or find the advocacy distasteful, Millers statement said. A Federalist Society Star Helped Foment the Capitol Riot - Slate Magazine John Eastman, left, a lawyer for President Donald Trump, appears with Rudolph W. Giuliani at the Jan. 6 rally that preceded the Capitol insurrection. John Eastman, the Trump-allied lawyer who wrote memos urging then-Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the 2020 election results, said in a court filing Monday that federal agents seized his. The briefing included Giuliani; John Eastman, the attorney behind the theory that Vice President Mike Pence could reject the Electoral College results; White House trade adviser Peter Navarro . [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. They developed a specialty in working with pop musicians whose business had suffered under previous representatives. Thanks for contacting us. [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. In the December 4, 2020 email, Thomas invited Eastman to speak four days later at a gathering of "Frontliners," which she described as a group of "grassroots state leaders." ", "Some questions for Kamala Harris about eligibility | Opinion", "Editor's Note: Eastman's Newsweek column has nothing to do with racist birtherism", "Trump campaign official pushes baseless Newsweek op-ed claiming Harris may not be VP-eligible", "Trump stokes 'birther' conspiracy theory about Kamala Harris", "Trump Encourages Racist Conspiracy Theory About Kamala Harris", "Yes, Kamala Harris is eligible to be vice president | Opinion", "About That Right-Wing Argument That Kamala Harris Isn't A Citizen", "The Lawyer Behind the Memo on How Trump Could Stay in Office", "Trump and his GOP loyalists seek to pile on Supreme Court election challenge", "State of Texas, plaintiff, v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, State of Georgia, State of Michigan, and State of Wisconsin, defendants", "Supreme Court Rejects Texas Challenge to Biden's Victory in Presidential Election", "Supreme Court Rejects Texas Suit Seeking to Subvert Election", "The military-intelligence veterans who helped lead Trump's campaign of disinformation", "Trump Lawyer Cited 'Heated Fight' Among Justices Over Election Suits", "Email to Giuliani reveals plan to keep Trump in office on Jan. 6, court records show", "Trump's pressure on Georgia election officials raises legal questions", "Jan. 6th hearing: How Eastman tried to gat Pence to reject electoral votes", "Pence Reached His Limit With Trump. Former lawyer of former President Donald Trump, John Eastman, appears on screen during the fourth hearing by the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the US Capitol in the Cannon House Office Building on June 21, 2022 in Washington, DC. After Thursday's hearing John Eastman should get a good criminal Carter concluded it showed the Trump legal team had decided to "evade judicial review to overturn a democratic election" and "forged ahead with a political campaign to disrupt the electoral count. John Eastman vs. the Eastman Memo | National Review [49], In August 2020, Newsweek published an op-ed by Eastman questioning 2020 vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris's eligibility for the office. [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. [110][111][107], On June 22, 2022, several FBI agents approached him as he was leaving a New Mexico restaurant and, pursuant to a warrant, seized his phone. A private Facebook group named "FrontLiners for Liberty," which included over 50 people and was created in August 2020, showed Thomas as an administrator. John Eastman, an entertainment lawyer and brother of Paul McCartney's first wife, Linda, nabbed a Carnegie Hill co-op for $26.5 million, property records show. Trump in recent weeks has told confidants that he sees no reason to defend the lawyer who tried to help him overturn the 2020 . He is a founding director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, a public interest law firm affiliated with the Claremont Institute. ", "Here's Kamala Harris' birth certificate. 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. [6][7][8], Eastman was a key participant in the subsequent attempts to overturn the election;[9][10][11][12] during President Donald Trump's last efforts before the certification of Joe Biden's Electoral College victory, Eastman incorrectly told Vice President Mike Pence in an Oval Office meeting, on January 5, 2021, that Pence had the constitutional authority to block the certification.