[73] According to Eastman, he told the vice president that he might have the authority to reject electoral college votes, and he asked the vice president to delay the certification. Trump lawyer John Eastman, left, is seen in a video during a hearing of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection on Thursday. Early in their work with Mr. McCartney, the Eastmans helped him set up what would become MPL Communications, his entertainment company. With the Eastmans guidance, Mr. McCartney also acquired ownership of all of his recordings and songwriting rights since the breakup of the Beatles. 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 January 6 committee subpoenaed Eastman in November. Eastman wrote: "the odds are not based on the legal merits but an assessment of the justices spines." 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. Carter found that one Eastman email exchange showed Trump had sworn under oath that the number of alleged voting fraud cases his attorneys cited in a Georgia federal suit was accurate, though he knew it was not. Its unclear if Eastman had information on the high court's usually-secretive deliberations. Have a tip we should know? Chesebro had emailed Rudy Giuliani 11 days earlier with a proposal for Pence to recuse himself from the January 6 certification so a senior Republican senator could count fraudulent elector slates to declare Trump the victor. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images). Daily Docket An in-depth look at the day's most important headlines concerning the. Such designations typically reflect a candidate's current employment or elected office. Trump lawyer John Eastman hit with disciplinary charges 'Coup Memo' Lawyer Loses Bid To Hold Up Records He Warns - HuffPost The Bar's investigation, announced Tuesday, March 1, focuses on whether Eastman "engaged in conduct in violation of California law and ethics rules governing attorneys following and in . John Charles Eastman (born 1960) is an American lawyer who is the founding director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, a public interest law firm affiliated with the conservative think tank Claremont Institute. Son of Paul McCartney's Late Lawyer Buys $27M Co-op - The Real Deal Eastman faces 11 disciplinary charges, all arising from allegations that he was behind Trumps plan to obstruct the count of electoral votes. After Thursday's hearing John Eastman should get a good criminal In 35-page notice of the disciplinary charges, the bars supervising attorney Duncan Carling wrote that Eastman had every opportunity to learn that his election fraud claims were baseless, including from top Trump officials. 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. 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. Who is John Eastman, the Trump lawyer at the center of the Jan. 6 [84], According to testimony given to the January 6 Committee by former White House lawyer Eric Herschmann, Eastman emailed Giuliani several days after the storming of the Capitol, asking to be placed on the list of those to be given a presidential pardon before Trump's term in office ended. [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. 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. [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. Trump lawyer John Eastman takes Fifth at Georgia grand jury As a result of information received from credible sources and numerous court rulings, by no later than on or about December 9, 2020, respondent knew, or was grossly negligent in not knowing, that there was no evidence upon which a reasonable attorney would rely of election fraud or illegality that could have affected the outcome of the election, and that there was no evidence upon which a reasonable attorney would rely that the election had been stolen by the Democratic Party or other parties acting in a coordinated conspiracy to fraudulently steal the election from Trump, the notice continues. Eastman is the author of the so-called coup memo, a six-point plan to overturn the election results. "[53] Harvard Professor Laurence Tribe was similarly dismissive, telling The New York Times "I hadnt wanted to comment on [Eastmans idea] because it's such an idiotic theory. "[54] One day after publishing Eastman's op-ed, Newsweek published an opinion piece by legal scholar Eugene Volokh, titled "Yes, Kamala Harris is Eligible to be Vice President", in which Volokh argues that Harris is a "natural-born citizen" under the U.S. Constitution and is therefore eligible to be vice president. 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. 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. Lawyer John Eastman has been hit with disciplinary charges and should be disbarred for his alleged involvement in former President Donald Trump's bid to throw out the 2020 election results,. [103][104], In May 2022, the University of Colorado, where Eastman was a visiting professor, released an email Eastman sent to Pennsylvania legislator Russ Diamond in December 2020. Stop the Presses!" He is a founding director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, a public interest law firm affiliated with the Claremont Institute. John Eastman: From California lawyer to Trump true believer - Los He was a dean and professor at the Chapman University School of Law. Stiffed, Sued, Deposed, And Maybe Crime-Frauded: The Rudy Giuliani Any discipline such as suspension or disbarring then has to be approved by the California Supreme Court. John Eastman's and Greg Jacob's tense email exchange, annotated - The John Eastman, 83, Entertainment Lawyer | The East Hampton Star The group's front page carried a banner stating, "the enemy of Americais the radical fascist left." [30], He testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2014 arguing that President Barack Obama's unilateral suspension of deportation for undocumented immigrants was unconstitutional. Not only did he help me massively in my business dealings as my lawyer but as a friend he was hard to beat.. The committee has now authorized Jessica Yates, the attorney regulation counsel, to file a formal complaint against Ellis with the presiding disciplinary judge, according to Yates. Eastman emailed Giuliani, saying "I've decided that I should be on the pardon list if that is still in the works." 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. "There is nothing more sacrosanct to our American democracy than free and fair elections and the peaceful transfer of power." Who Is John Eastman? The Attorney At The Center Of Trump's - Forbes Trump lawyer Herschmann testified that on the morning of Jan. 6 he received a call from. [65] After receiving sharp criticism about his role in the election aftermath, in October 2021 Eastman asserted the memos did not convey his advice but rather he had written them at the request of "somebody in the legal team" whose name he could not recall. 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. [66] In a video taken secretly and made public that same month, Eastman suggested he believed that Pence's actions served Washington politics. California Bar seeks to disbar ex-Trump attorney over quest to overturn 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. John Eastman: The Lawyer Behind the Memo on How Trump Could Stay in 6." [62], On December 22, 2020, Ivan Raiklin, an attorney and associate of Michael Flynn, tweeted to Trump a two-page memo entitled "Operation Pence Card," which Trump retweeted two days later. Chesebro continued, "We want to frame things so that Thomas could be the one to issue some sort of stay or other circuit justice opinion saying Georgia is in legitimate doubt." (Chesebro apparently referred to Trump's tweet five days earlier inviting supporters to a "wild" January 6 protest.) 193726), a California licensed attorney. John Eastman, left, a lawyer for President Donald Trump, appears with Rudolph W. Giuliani at the Jan. 6 rally that preceded the Capitol insurrection. Lawyer John Eastman, who advised former President Donald Trump as he tried to overturn the 2020 election, forcefully pushed back on claims made by the House Select Committee investigating 6 . As part of their preparations for the case, Mr. Eastman suggested that his brother-in-law wear a suit and tie to court. Eastman and President Trump launched a campaign to overturn a democratic election, an action unprecedented in American history, Carter wrote in a March ruling. A former clerk to Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Eastman helms the Center for. John Eastman: Wikipedia, Children, Biography, Partner, Profession, Net [57] Eastman called the vice president "the ultimate arbiter" of the election in his two-page memo. John Eastman is an American lawyer with an estimated net worth of $5 million. Eastman attorney Randall Miller said in a lengthy statement that Eastman "disputes 'every aspect' of the action that has been filed against him by the State Bar," and alleged the charges were. 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. [18][19] On March 28, 2022, federal judge David O. Carter found Eastman, along with Trump, was more likely than not to have "dishonestly conspired to obstruct the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021". [121] On January 26, 2023, Eastman was charged with multiple disciplinary counts by the State Bar of California. Ten documents related to three December 2020 meetings by a secretive group strategizing about how to overturn the election, which included what Carter characterized as a "high-profile" leader. [26], Eastman served as an attorney for the State of South Dakota, representing it in a denied petition to the U.S. Supreme Court in a constitutional challenge to federal spending. 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. Eastman replied by blaming Pence and Jacob for refusing to block certification of Trump's loss in the election, writing, "The siege is because YOU and your boss did not do what was necessary to allow this to be aired in a public way so that the American people can see for themselves what happened." Anyone can read what you share. 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. He served on the faculty of Chapman University in California until last year, worked as dean of the universitys law school from 2007 to 2010 and is now a senior fellow at the Claremont Institute, a conservative think tank. 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. [125][127], The University of Colorado cancelled Eastman's Spring 2021 courses due to low enrollment. The finding came in the context of civil litigation involving discovery by the Jan. 6th Committee. The right-wing attorney who authored " coup memos " for Donald Trump and supporters on how to scuttle the presidential election lost a court battle Friday to hold back his documents from the House select committee investigating last year's Jan. 6 insurrection. [55] Lorelei Laird, in an Above The Law article, pointed out that Eastman was arguing that Harris was not even a U.S. I DARED Smerconish to interview Trump lawyer John Eastman, a former dean and law professor at Chapman University School of Law in California, as I recently did for my Epoch Times TV show. The House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol is expected to subpoena John Eastman, the attorney who crafted a memo outlining strategies about how to. [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. "My dear brother-in-law, John. But the committee argued Eastman's use of university email destroyed any attorney-client privilege to keep the documents confidential. Eastman said that she could have subsequently obtained citizenship derived from the naturalization of her parents if one of them had become a citizen prior to her 16th birthday in 1980, which would have allowed Harris to fulfill the nine-year citizenship requirement necessary to become a senator. 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. UpdateJan. Mr. Eastman and his father, who was also named Lee, worked with a long roster of big-name clients over the years, including Andrew Lloyd Webber, David Bowie, Elton John and the estates of Tennessee Williams and the painter Francis Bacon. Lawfare update: Texas judge dismisses case against Sidney Powell Alaskan Who Sued To Boot Oath Keeper From Office: We Tried To 'Not Give [115], Judge Carter ruled in October 2022 that Eastman must turn over an additional 33 documents to the January 6 committee, including eight he determined were ineligible for attorney-client privilege because they related to possible criminal activity. [90] Eastman referred to an "antifa and BLM guy" who had been arrested after the Capitol incursion, an apparent reference to John Earle Sullivan, a Utah man who some characterized as an "antifa leader" who had supposedly infiltrated the rally crowd to instigate the insurgency. [22], Eastman graduated from the Dallas-area Lewisville High School and received his undergraduate degree from the University of Dallas. As the president's actual attorneys backed away from his coup, Eastman rushed in to . 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. Eastman disclosed the. And Eastman wasn't the only one of Trump's legal henchman who knew the plan wasn't legally viable. Trump lawyer outlined plan to overturn election in newly disclosed memo "[118][119] In March 2022, the State Bar of California announced that since September 2021, it had been investigating claims of possible violations of law and ethics rules by Eastman. Last week, Carter ruled 440 records were privileged but ordered Eastman to hand over another 159. Trump Lawyer John Eastman Literally Told A Lawmaker To Toss Absentee (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images) The State Bar of California unveiled new disciplinary charges against John Eastman for his involvement in former President Donald Trump's efforts to block th. Eastman purchased the unit at. 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. "John was a great man," McCartney wrote in an Instagram post announcing Eastman's death. 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. Survivors of Italy's migrant shipwreck weep over their dead John Eastman on Thursday, April 29, 2021. [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. Several news outlets reported Wednesday the committee got emails between Eastman and Ginni Thomas, a right-wing activist married to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas who pushed to overturn Bidens winbut the emails contents arent known. [129][78], On December 19, 2022, Eastman and Trump were publicly named during a televised January 6 Committee hearing as being among those who the committee wanted charged for the January 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol attack. 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. Legal Ethics, Bar Discipline and John Eastman - Lawfare Eastman subsequently implored Vice President Pence to violate the Electoral Count Act to delay certification of the election,[16] via Pence's legal counsel Greg Jacob, who responded by calling Eastman a "serpent in the ear of the president of the United States". [emailprotected], Law&Crime's managing editor Adam Klasfeld has spent more than a decade on the legal beat. John L. Eastman, McCartneys Lawyer in Beatles Strife, Dies at 83, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/15/arts/music/john-l-eastman-dead.html. [13][14] Pence did not accept Eastman's argument. A state bar courthas to rule on the charges Eastman faces and then recommend a discipline if they rule against him. Newsweek defended the column, while acknowledging that they were "horrified that this op-ed gave rise to a wave of vile Birtherism directed at Senator Harris". February 14, 2022. 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. [96] Eastman relinquished nearly 8,000 emails to the committee in February 2022 but asserted privilege for about 11,000 others. Mr. Eastman was the brother of Linda McCartney, Mr. McCartneys first wife, and Lee was her father. 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. [41][42] He is a director of the Public Interest Legal Foundation, which brings election lawsuits. A firm tied to Trump lawyer John Eastman received $10,000 from Rep 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. The Daily Beast reports that the plaintiffs are seeking to pierce attorney-client privilege under the crime-fraud . The John Eastman Coup Memo Is Not a Joke | The New Republic Paul McCartney took to social media to pay respects to his brother-in-law John Eastman, who passed away from pancreatic cancer on Tuesday at age 83. Coup Memo Lawyer Calls Himself A 'Hero' Who Talked Trump - HuffPost Trump acknowledged Eastman's help during his speech Jan. 6, 2021. 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 legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election by obstructing the count of electoral votes of certain states, the bar wrote in a press release. Thomas was the justice assigned to hear emergency arguments from cases in Georgia. Carter wrote that Trump and Eastman likely conspired in criminal obstruction of Congress, adding, "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. The Daily Mail reports that John died on Tuesday, August 9th, after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer. John Eastman, Brother-in-Law of Paul McCartney, Dies at 83 - TheWrap Filing of a complaint "typically takes 2-3 weeks after getting authorization," Yates wrote to Newsline in an email Wednesday evening. August 25, 2022 John Eastman, a prominent entertainment lawyer whose clients included the musicians Paul McCartney and Billy Joel, the Abstract Expressionist painter Willem de Kooning, and. [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." The California native attended Chapman University law school, where Donald Trump's election lawyer John Eastman formerly taught, before moving to Tennessee, and he served for a time as webmaster . "[101] Eastman's assertion of privilege for 101 emails was rejected by Judge David O. Carter in March 2022, who ordered the emails to be produced to the committee. ", "John Eastman, who pushed a plan to reject Electoral College results, asked for a pardon shortly after Jan. 6", "Eastman sought White House pardon after Jan. 6", "Ex-Law Professor Says His Words at 'Save America' Rally Did Not Incite U.S. Capitol Siege", "Trump lawyer John Eastman: Rally, insurrection not connected", "Rallies ahead of Capitol riot were planned by established Washington insiders", "F.B.I. In Memoriam: John Eastman '64 | NYU School of Law Chapman University law professor John Eastman. The pair were linked both personally and . Exhibit N", "How Pence used 43 words to shut down Trump allies' election subversion on Jan. 6", "Chapman professor will retire after uproar over his speaking at Trump rally", "Law Prof Who Spoke at White House Rally Abruptly Retires Amid Calls for His Firing", "Federal Judge Finds Trump Most Likely Committed Crimes Over 2020 Election", "Judge: 'More likely than not' that Trump 'corruptly attempted' to block Congress from counting votes on January 6", "Jan. 6 committee sends DOJ historic criminal referral of Trump over Capitol riot", "The University of Chicago Law Review Volume 62 Masthead", "California's 34th Congressional District", "Dean John Eastman On The Powers Of The Senate Vis--vis The SCOTUS Vacancy", "Search - Supreme Court of the United States", United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, "Challengers Find the Road to Congress Is Uphill Struggle: Elections", "Eastman resigns as Dean of the Chapman University School of Law", "2 AG hopefuls from O.C.