John Eastman, a visiting fellow at the University of Colorado at Boulders and a researcher of conservative thought and policy, spoke at a press conference outside CU Boulder on Thursday, April 29, 2021, about plans to sue the university. increase.
Andy Cross | Denver Post | Getty Images
The California Bar Association on Thursday indicted John Eastman, a lawyer with close ties to the former president. donald trump11 disciplinary actions related to alleged plans to overthrow the president Joe BidenWin the 2020 election.
The Office of Chief Justice George Cardona said it intends to seek disqualification of Eastman. Press release From the California Bar Association.
Eastman has been charged with making false statements about alleged election fraud, including during a “Stop theft” rally outside the White House on January 6, 2021. The state bar association claims it ordered an order to prevent Congress from confirming Biden’s election victory.
Eastman’s attorneys said the disciplinary action against Eastman “is part of a nationwide effort to use the Bar Association’s disciplinary process to punish lawyers who opposed the administration in the last presidential election.” I called.
“Dr. John Eastman contests “all aspects” of the lawsuit brought against him by state attorneys based entirely on his role as attorney for the former U.S. president after the 2020 election. Eastman’s attorney, Randall A. Miller, said in a press release.
Eastman was the legal architect of one of several efforts to reverse Trump’s defeat to Biden. Drafted documents promoting a dubious legal theory that he had the power to unilaterally refuse to prove the delegation’s vote.
Pence, who presided over a congressional effort to confirm Biden’s victory on Jan. 6, 2021, has refused to follow through with that plan despite pressure from Trump.
Eastman did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
The indictment notice against Eastman stated that the strategy he proposed was “based on false and misleading factual allegations, designed to keep Trump in office, and was not backed by law.” ‘ said.
Eastman “violated this duty to further an attempt to rob the will of the American people and overturn the election results for the highest office in the country,” Cardona said in a press release.
Lawyers “must be held accountable,” Cardona said.
Eastman, who has been licensed to practice law in California since 1997, has “disobeyed his duty as an attorney” by disseminating allegations of election fraud that he knew or ought to have known were false. violated,” claims the 35-page billing document.
He also promoted the legal view of Pence’s authority that “no reasonable attorney with expertise in constitutional or election law could have concluded that the Vice President was legally empowered.” Even so, it is condemned.
Eastman was featured prominently in a public presentation of evidence collected by the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol riot.Committee voted to refer Trump to the Justice Department for a criminal investigation before closing the investigation at the end of last year.
