Judge Bats Away John Eastman’s Attempt To Hide Trump-Related Work Emails

John Eastman, the University of Colorado Boulder’s visiting scholar of conservative thought and policy, speaks at a news conference outside of CU Boulder on April 29, 2021. (Photo by Andy Cross/MediaNews Group/The ... John Eastman, the University of Colorado Boulder’s visiting scholar of conservative thought and policy, speaks at a news conference outside of CU Boulder on April 29, 2021. (Photo by Andy Cross/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

A federal judge rejected ex-Trump legal adviser John Eastman’s attempt to quash the House Jan. 6 select committee’s subpoena to Chapman University requesting his work emails from when he was a law professor at the school — where he worked as he was trying to help then-President Donald Trump steal the 2020 election.

Per Yahoo News, Judge David Carter of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California ordered Eastman to wade through the more than 19,000 emails related to his work with Trump on his school account and tell the Jan. 6 panel which ones he believes are protected by attorney-client privilege.

During the hearing on Monday, Carter also instructed Chapman to turn over the emails to Eastman, who abruptly retired from the university after the Capitol insurrection last year.

The lawyer for Chapman University, Fred Plevin, made it clear the school wasn’t interested in trying to help its former employee with this mess, saying it was “improper” for Eastman to use his Chapman account in his work for Trump.

“I liken it to having contraband on our system,” Plevin said.

Eastman’s lawyer, Charles Burnham, claimed that the professor’s dean knew he was working for Trump and didn’t have a problem with it.

Burnham confirmed that Eastman was working for Trump during some of the critical moments in the election steal plot, during which the law professor put together a blueprint for then-Vice President Mike Pence to hijack the 2020 election certification process and throw out Biden’s electors in key swing states.

Eastman also pleaded the Fifth 146 times when the Jan. 6 panel interviewed him last month, according to a lawyer working for the committee. However, it’s unclear exactly what kind of questions prompted him to do so.

Latest News
332
Show Comments

Notable Replies

  1. Does the judge know this guy’s a lawyer, with, like, really brilliant legal ideas, and such? Yes? Doubleplus good.

  2. Judge Bats Away John Eastman’s Bat-Shit Crazy Attempt

    Better lede, IMHO…

  3. Too Bad So Sad

    image

  4. What is he hiding?? (I kid, I kid!!!)

  5. Eastman is so very, very dumb. Not Lin Wood levels of dumb, but still very dumb nevertheless.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

326 more replies

Participants

Avatar for ajm Avatar for austin_dave Avatar for josephebacon Avatar for steviedee111 Avatar for teenlaqueefa Avatar for sniffit Avatar for stradivarius50t3 Avatar for alyoshakaramazov1 Avatar for darrtown Avatar for pshah Avatar for thunderclapnewman Avatar for tsp Avatar for lizzymom Avatar for dannydorko Avatar for rhs1963 Avatar for qwerty23 Avatar for drtv Avatar for karlwlewis Avatar for occamscoin Avatar for txlawyer Avatar for dicktater Avatar for visionseeker Avatar for emiliano4 Avatar for ClutchCargo

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: