Eastman wrote: "the odds are not based on the legal merits but an assessment of the justices spines." [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 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. Jacob wrote to Eastman, "Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege." John Eastman is an American lawyer with an estimated net worth of $5 million. [128] The university also revoked some of Eastman's public-facing duties but permitted him to conduct scholarship. The entertainment lawyer John L. Eastman in 2011. [87][88][89] The FBI had announced two weeks earlier there was no evidence of antifa involvement in the siege. 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". (Chesebro apparently referred to Trump's tweet five days earlier inviting supporters to a "wild" January 6 protest.) No law professor played a bigger role in Donald Trump's plot to overturn the election than John Eastman. Trump did not issue a pardon to Eastman. In 2017, Mr. Eastman steered a lawsuit by Mr. McCartney against Sony/ATV, the music publisher (now known as Sony Music Publishing), to regain his share of the United States copyrights in Beatles songs that he wrote with Mr. Lennon, citing an amendment to federal law that allows creators to recapture those rights after set periods. 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. (Reuters) -California attorney regulators said on Thursday they will seek to disbar attorney John Eastman over his involvement in former U.S. President Donald Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 election. 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. Eastmans lawyer Randall Miller said in a statement that his client disputes every aspect of the Bars allegations, claiming Eastman shouldnt be penalize for simply offering legal advice to Trump. The Supreme Court has held this since the 1890s. The pair were linked both personally and . Have a tip or story idea? Stop the Presses!" "There is nothing more sacrosanct to our American democracy than free and fair elections and the peaceful transfer of power." 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 . And Eastman wasn't the only one of Trump's legal henchman who knew the plan wasn't legally viable. "[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. 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. 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. I still cannot understand why Paul acted as he did, George Harrison said in an affidavit. The Thomas email was among those Carter ordered Eastman to release to the January 6 committee. Mr. McCartney half-complied: He appeared in a suit, but no tie. Eastman has drawn scorn from some of his colleagues. That lawyer, John Eastman, is a member in good standing of the conservative legal establishment. Chapman School of Law professor John Eastman testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 16, 2017. Mr. Eastman was the brother of Linda McCartney, Mr. McCartneys first wife, and Lee was her father. ", "John Eastman Named National Organization For Marriage Chairman", "Claremont Institute - Board of Directors", "What the Hell Happened to the Claremont Institute? "My dear brother-in-law, John Eastman, has passed . 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 . [15], On January 6, 2021, Eastman presented a speech at the White House Trump rally that preceded the 2021 United States Capitol attack. (Jim Bourg/Reuters) In extensive conversations with NR, the . On Thursday, McCartney, 80, posted to Instagram to share that Eastman, who was the brother of McCartney's late wife Linda McCartney, has died. [36] Eastman finished second in the three-way Republican primary with 34.2% of the vote, behind Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley, who received 47.3%. 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. [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. Then he became influential with Donald Trump and counseled him on how to retain power after losing the election. UpdateJan. [112][113] Federal judge Robert Brack rejected Eastman's request on July 15. [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. Trump acknowledged Eastman's help during his speech Jan. 6, 2021. 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. 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.. [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 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. citizen. 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 . "[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. John Eastman, the conservative lawyer who helped lead former President Donald Trump's legal efforts to undermine the results of the 2020 presidential election, is facing disciplinary action in . 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. [51] However, Axios noted that other constitutional scholars do not accept Eastman's view, labeling it "baseless". 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 . The finding came in the context of civil litigation involving discovery by the Jan. 6th Committee. [22], Eastman graduated from the Dallas-area Lewisville High School and received his undergraduate degree from the University of Dallas. [57] Eastman called the vice president "the ultimate arbiter" of the election in his two-page memo. John C. Eastman, a conservative legal scholar from California, came up with a plan that would . [106], On June 7, Carter ruled that Eastman must disclose an additional 159 sensitive documents to the committee. 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. "John was a great man," McCartney wrote in an Instagram post announcing Eastman's death. 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. God do I love this guy. The others had other ideas. The California bar directly connects Eastmans speech to the insurrection, saying he contributed to provoking a crowd to assault and breach the Capitol to intimidate then-Vice President [Mike] Pence and prevent the electoral count from proceeding., New York University law school professor and legal ethic expert Stephen Gillers termed the accusations against Eastman, "scathing," and that the Bar was charging him with failure to support the country's and California's constitutions, despite taking an oath to do so and, "The allegation that Eastman is guilty of 'moral turpitude'," is an attack on his personal and professional character. 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, Cardona said. Since then, he has tangled with the committee over its demands for thousands of records, arguing to Judge Carter many of these documents are protected by attorney-client privilege. John was a great man, Mr. McCartney wrote on Twitter last week, along with a photo of him with Mr. Eastman in yoga poses. [96] Eastman relinquished nearly 8,000 emails to the committee in February 2022 but asserted privilege for about 11,000 others. The strategy hinged partly on a dubious plan to get swing-state Republicans to sign off on alternate electors falsely deeming Trumpnot Bidento be the winner of their states: In a set of December 2020 emails to one Pennsylvania GOP lawmaker, Eastman suggested legislators could assert the right to appoint an alternate slate of electors or subtract mail-in ballots from Trump and Bidens totals at a prorated amount.. "My dear brother-in-law, John. [68] Eastman and the Thomases are longtime friends. 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 . Eastman purchased the unit at. 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 regulatory group said itll seek the revocation of Eastmans law license after charging him with 11 ethics violations for allegedly making false statements in public, and for misleading courts. 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 . "[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 reporting on the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell was featured on the Starz and Channel 4 documentary "Who Is Ghislaine Maxwell?" 26, 2023, at 5:38 p.m. But of all of them, the lawyers were most closely associated with Mr. McCartney, whom Mr. Eastman represented for more than 50 years. Federal authorities had not identified the man as an antifa activist. [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. 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. The Daily Beast reports that the plaintiffs are seeking to pierce attorney-client privilege under the crime-fraud . But the committee argued Eastman's use of university email destroyed any attorney-client privilege to keep the documents confidential. Their connection was both professional and personal. 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. Its unclear if Eastman had information on the high court's usually-secretive deliberations. (Courtesy of the Eastmans) A GROUP calling itself The 65 Project has targeted nearly 100 lawyers, including me, state attorneys general and . [122]. The other Beatles responded to the lawsuit in frustration. [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. 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. A former clerk to Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Eastman helms the Center for. "[107], On June 15, 2022, the Washington Post reported that the January 6 committee had recently acquired emails between Eastman and Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas,[108] and the New York Times reported that the committee had obtained the EastmanChesebro email exchange from December 24, 2020. [55] Lorelei Laird, in an Above The Law article, pointed out that Eastman was arguing that Harris was not even a U.S. So who is John Eastman? The January 6 committee subpoenaed Eastman in November. The case was settled; the terms were not disclosed, but Mr. McCartney has been registering the American ownership of those rights under MPL. Last week, Carter ruled 440 records were privileged but ordered Eastman to hand over another 159. [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. 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,. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Pompeo calls $31 trillion national debt indecent at CPAC, Trump recites Pledge of Allegiance in collaboration on new song with J6 Prison Choir, Bidens laughable, late-to-the-game crackdown on massive COVID fraud, 2024 presidential hopeful Nikki Haley heckled by Trump supporters at CPAC, made similar statements outside the White House on Jan. 6, 2021. It could have meant the popularly elected president could have been thwarted from taking office. They developed a specialty in working with pop musicians whose business had suffered under previous representatives. [emailprotected], Law&Crime's managing editor Adam Klasfeld has spent more than a decade on the legal beat. Eastman still persisted with his election fraud claims long after that date, through at least Jan. 6, 2021. 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 . 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. That was what Dr Eastman was urging. [50], All prominent legal scholars disagreed with Eastman's position, and many compared it to the birtherism theory against President Barack Obama. But John Lennon and the other Beatles had selected another New Yorker to manage the group: Allen Klein, who had worked with Sam Cooke and the Rolling Stones. The Eastmans became involved in the fight over the Beatles business empire in early 1969. Eastman asserted this had been reported by The Washington Post days earlier, though the article he appeared to reference did not support his assertion and did not mention antifa. 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." The conflict between Mr. Klein and the Eastmans, and the disagreement within the group over those men, would consume the Beatles for years to come, even after their official breakup in 1970. 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. He wrote this new "untainted popular vote" would "help provide some cover" for the legislature to create a slate of Trump electors for certification. He is a founding director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, a public interest law firm affiliated with the Claremont Institute. With the Eastmans guidance, Mr. McCartney also acquired ownership of all of his recordings and songwriting rights since the breakup of the Beatles. At Wikipedia, don't even ask. Trump lawyer John Eastman facing probe by California state bar | Reuters Newsletter | Sent every weekday. Or to keep it anonymous, click here. Before he urged Vice President Mike Pence to unilaterally hand the 2020 election to Donald Trump, right-wing lawyer John Eastman, who represented Trump after the election, floated a somewhat. Have a tip we should know? [57] He also asserted in October that a scenario in which Pence would reject ballots was "foolish" and "crazy," further claiming he had told Pence during their Oval Office meeting that his proposal was an "open question" and "the weaker argument". ", "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. [39][40] He is chairman of the board of the National Organization for Marriage, which opposes same-sex marriage. Not only did he help me massively in my business dealings as my lawyer but as a friend he was hard to beat.. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images). John Eastman, an ally of Donald Trump who authored a memo outlining how to . Eastman responded that he was speaking two miles away from the Capitol building. 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 . 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. "[98][99][100] Douglas Letter, general counsel to the House, said about Eastman asking Pence to delay Biden's certification, "It was so minor it could have changed the entire course of our democracy. He then earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago Law School, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Government from the Claremont Graduate School. [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. Some of the records sought by the January 6 panel could offer new insight into Eastmans work. Trump, himself a one-time believer in the birther theory, reacted to the op-ed by telling reporters Eastman is a brilliant lawyer.. ET: This story has been updated to include more information about the disciplinary charges from the notice filed by the bar. 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. WATCH LIVE: Ex-boyfriend on trial for allegedly killing womans new beau, WATCH LIVE: Psychic on Trial in Spousal Swindling Case, WATCH LIVE: XXXTentacion murder trial 3 men charged in 2018 shooting death of rapper, Law&Crime Looks Ahead to 10 Remarkable Criminal Trials Scheduled for the First Half of 2023, 9 Shocking Times Defendants Testified at Trial, A bald Alex Murdaugh appears in booking mugshot after hes sentenced to two life terms for killing wife and son, Im a father and I couldnt do this: Florida man convicted of murdering almost 3-month-old baby boy, Jan. 6th rioter who stole Officer Michael Fanones badge following Capitol assault pleads guilty, Former reality TV star gets life sentence for murder-for-hire plot targeting nephew, We really thought she was dead: Long-missing Pennsylvania woman discovered alive in Puerto Rico after 30 years, 'I'm a father and I couldn't do this': Florida man convicted of murdering almost 3-month-old baby boy, Jan. 6th rioter who stole Officer Michael Fanone's badge following Capitol assault pleads guilty, 'We really thought she was dead': Long-missing Pennsylvania woman discovered alive in Puerto Rico after 30 years, 'Things went horribly wrong': Devastated family sues mortuary over wrongful cremation, Trump attorney whom judge accused of filing racist 2020 election lawsuit reappointed to Wisconsin judicial advisory panel, Fox boss Rupert Murdoch is probably safe from campaign finance ripples of Dominion revelations on Biden ads, experts say, Previously untested DNA from unprovable rape case leads to arrest in 1979 California campground murder, Links to white supremacist groups probed after Nazi flags found in raids on suspected California pipe bombers, Dozens of gang members arrested in Operation Nightmare stemming from execution-style massacre in California, Brothers convicted of beating a groom to death after crashing his wedding reception.