John Eastman, the attorney who masterminded a legal strategy to attempt to overturn the 2020 election, is seeking to delay disbarment proceedings against him as he says he faces potential charges tied to former President Trump’s most recent indictment.
The onetime Trump lawyer planned to rely on battleground states to find electors that supported Trump, in addition to leaning on then-Vice President Mike Pence to toss out actual electors. He faces 11 disciplinary charges in the State Bar of California, which has accused Eastman of violating his duty to uphold the U.S. and California Constitutions.
But after Trump was indicted last week on accusations he tried to steal the 2020 presidential election, attorneys for Eastman wrote in a filing that “[R]ecent developments in the investigation have renewed and intensified [Eastman’s] concerns that the federal government might bring charges against him.”
The indictment handed down against Trump lists six unnamed co-conspirators. Eastman is most likely the second co-conspirator, referred to in the indictment as an “attorney who devised and attempted to implement a strategy to leverage the Vice President’s ceremonial role overseeing the certification proceeding to obstruct the certification of the presidential election.”
More:Trump’s election indictment doesn’t name his alleged co-conspirators. These are most likely who they are.
If the proceedings are not postponed, attorneys for Eastman claimed he “faces the difficult choice of asserting his Fifth Amendment right” as he fights the disbarment push. The Fifth Amendment provides multiple rights, including barring being a witness against yourself, or being tasked with self-incriminating.
Attorneys for the office of chief trial counsel, which is seeking Eastman’s disbarment, have said Eastman’s actions were taking with “one singular purpose: To obstruct the electoral count on Jan. 6 and stop Vice President Pence from certifying Joe Biden as the winner of the election.”
Following Trump’s indictment, Charles Burnham, another attorney for Eastman, said “The latest indictment relies on a misleading presentation of the record to contrive criminal charges against Presidential candidate Trump and to cast ominous aspersions on his close advisors.”
The hearings against Eastman began in June in California.
Contributing: Ella Lee, Josh Meyer, Dinah Voyles Pulver and Ken Tran; USA TODAY
