Trump lawyer John Eastman touted his plan to overturn the 2020 election "[123], On January 9, 2021, the chairman of Chapman's board of trustees and two other members (including former Democratic Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez) called on the university's president and provost and the law school's dean "to promptly take action against Eastman for his role in the events of Jan. [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 apparently referred to Trump's tweet five days earlier inviting supporters to a "wild" January 6 protest.) The State Bar of California's Chief Trial Counsel George Cardona announced today the filing of a Notice of Disciplinary Charges (NDC) against attorney John Charles Eastman (State Bar No. His father, who had changed his name from Leopold Epstein, set up a successful legal practice representing high-profile musicians, artists and writers, among them the bandleader Tommy Dorsey and the songwriters Harold Arlen and Hal David. Who is John Eastman and why is he being referred for charges? "There is nothing more sacrosanct to our American democracy than free and fair elections and the peaceful transfer of power." ", Video (4:48) John Eastman Defends Trying To Overturn 2020 Election, Dean of the Chapman University School of Law, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Eastman&oldid=1139934632, Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States, National Organization for Marriage people, Controversies of the 2020 United States presidential election, Pages using cite court with unknown parameters, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 17 February 2023, at 16:12. [38], Eastman is chairman of the Federalist Society's practice group on federalism and separation of powers. No law professor played a bigger role in Donald Trump's plot to overturn the election than John Eastman. John Eastman and his wife Elizabeth C'de Baca Eastman. "[61] On December 13, 2020, 159 Chapman University faculty members (including two from the law school) published a statement condemning Eastman for the filing. "[21][102], Seventeen months after the election, Eastman continued to press state legislatures to "de-certify" their election results. Mr. McCartney half-complied: He appeared in a suit, but no tie. [106], On June 7, Carter ruled that Eastman must disclose an additional 159 sensitive documents to the committee. 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 . Mr. Eastman was the brother of Linda McCartney, Mr. McCartneys first wife, and Lee was her father. 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. [130][131], On January 7, 2021, Eastman edited this Wikipedia article to portray his post-election role in a more favorable light. [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. 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. [17] On January 13, 2021, Eastman retired from the Chapman University faculty after the controversy created by his having spoken at the Trump rally. [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. 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. [63][64] The day of the Trump retweet, someone in the Trump administration called Eastman asking him to write a memo "asserting the vice president's power to hold up the certification" of the presidential election. 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. [2] [3] He is a former professor and dean at the Chapman University School of Law. Eastman still persisted with his election fraud claims long after that date, through at least Jan. 6, 2021. [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. [85][86], Appearing on CNN on January 23 to argue that the Trump rally did not incite the siege of the Capitol, Eastman asserted that "a paramilitary group as well as antifa groups" had been organizing "three or four days ahead of time". The pair were linked both personally and . [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. 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 briefly met with Trump campaign advisors in a Philadelphia hotel room the weekend after the 2020 presidential election. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images). Eastman wrote: "the odds are not based on the legal merits but an assessment of the justices spines." [51] However, Axios noted that other constitutional scholars do not accept Eastman's view, labeling it "baseless". He asserted she could not be a U.S. citizen by birth despite being born in Oakland, California, if neither of her parents was a permanent resident at the time of her birth. Bar discipline is an instrument ill-suited to . Eastman responded that he was speaking two miles away from the Capitol building. Court orders conservative lawyer John Eastman to turn over 159 The group's front page carried a banner stating, "the enemy of Americais the radical fascist left." He said he would continue with his Spring 2021 position as Visiting Professor of Conservative Thought and Policy at the University of Colorado and intended to then devote full-time effort to his position as director of the Claremont Institute's Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence. 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. His reporting on the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell was featured on the Starz and Channel 4 documentary "Who Is Ghislaine Maxwell?" 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. Some of the records sought by the January 6 panel could offer new insight into Eastmans work. Conservative lawyer John Eastman was told to 'get a great f-ing God do I love this guy. Who is John Eastman, the Trump lawyer at the center of the Jan. 6 ET: This story has been updated to include more information about the disciplinary charges from the notice filed by the bar. 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Facing Disbarment In California, Trump Lawyer John Eastman Speaks Up 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. Jacob wrote to Eastman, "Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege." John Eastman was a little-known but respected conservative lawyer. [71][72] That same day, together with Giuliani and Boris Epshteyn, he appeared on Steve Bannon's podcast The War Room and promoted the idea that state lawmakers needed to reconsider the election results. The other Beatles responded to the lawsuit in frustration. Its unclear if Eastman had information on the high court's usually-secretive deliberations. "[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. The filing included an excerpt of a January 6 email exchange with Pence aide Greg Jacob in which Eastman stated, "I implore you to consider one more relatively minor violation [of the Electoral Count Act] and adjourn for 10 days to allow the legislatures to finish their investigations, as well as to allow a full forensic audit of the massive amount of illegal activity that has occurred here. Andy Cross/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post/Getty Images. 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 Notice of Disciplinary Charges alleges that Mr. 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.. Early in their work with Mr. McCartney, the Eastmans helped him set up what would become MPL Communications, his entertainment company. And one day later, Eastman called White House attorney Eric Herschmann to discuss legal efforts in Georgia, Herschmann told the January 6 committee in testimony released this week. Aside from Mr. McCartney, they were best known for working with Mr. Joel in the late 1980s and early 90s, when he sued his former manager and lawyer. A fed-up Herschmann claims he insisted that Eastman only talk about an orderly transition in the future, and encouraged Eastman to find a great fing criminal defense lawyeryoure going to need it.. The Daily Mail reports that John died on Tuesday, August 9th, after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer. John Lindner Eastman was born on July 10, 1939, in Manhattan, and grew up in Scarsdale, N.Y., the eldest of four children of Lee and Louise Lindner Eastman. "[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. His mother had inherited a fortune from the Lindner department store in Cleveland. Eastman faces 11 disciplinary charges, all arising from allegations that he was behind Trumps plan to obstruct the count of electoral votes. 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 finding came in the context of civil litigation involving discovery by the Jan. 6th Committee. Advertisement. Eastman retired from his position at Chapman less than a week later, claiming his colleagues had created a hostile environment. Meanwhile, the State Bar of California opened an ethics investigation into Eastman last year (State Bar spokesperson Rick Coca told Forbes the investigation remains pending, and Californias bar database lists Eastman as an active attorney with no disciplinary history). 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". California Bar seeks to disbar ex-Trump attorney over quest to overturn (Jim Bourg/Reuters) In extensive conversations with NR, the . John Eastman Is Team Trump's Pick for Jan. 6 Scapegoat - Rolling Stone As the president's actual attorneys backed away from his coup, Eastman rushed in to . The well-known lawyer had known the former Beatles vocalist for over 50 years. [50], All prominent legal scholars disagreed with Eastman's position, and many compared it to the birtherism theory against President Barack Obama. 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.