John Eastman has turned over 8,000 emails to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot amid a court battle over a subpoena issued last month.
Eastman, a lawyer who aided former President Donald Trump‘s efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 election, has submitted approximately 8,000 emails while seeking to withhold over 11,000 emails from the committee that his lawyers claim contains “privileged material,” according to a court filing Sunday.
FEDERAL JUDGE: CAPITOL RIOT WAS NOT ‘LEGITIMATE POLITICAL DISCOURSE’
“The purpose of privilege logs is to enable the other parties to assess the claim. Rule 26 is not a vehicle by which the opposing party can get an early ‘peek’ at some of the privileged materials,” his lawyers said, citing a rule on privilege log requirements. “Plaintiff has provided information sufficient to satisfy Rule 26 while at the same time protecting the privilege itself.”
In a court filing Sunday, Eastman’s lawyers said he reviewed over 46,000 of the roughly 94,000 emails he was ordered to evaluate. Of the 46,000 documents he reviewed, roughly 27,000 documents were “mass emails,” such as spam and newsletters that both parties agreed should be excluded from review, according to court documents. He agreed to turn over 8,000 documents, which leaves approximately 11,000 withheld due to attorney-client or attorney work-product privileges.
The Jan. 6 committee subpoenaed Eastman’s former employer Chapman University in January, seeking access to emails he sent on that account. The subpoena is part of its investigation about discussions he had with Trump allies to block the certification of the 2020 election. He filed a lawsuit against the committee in response, seeking to block it. On Jan. 26, U.S. District Court Judge James Carter ordered him to review the roughly 94,000 Chapman University emails the committee was after to see if privileges justified not submitting them to the committee.
The court said he should submit an “in camera production” to the court in response to any possible privilege challenges that may arise. The judge will decide what can be kept from the House.
In Sunday’s filing, Eastman’s lawyers also pleaded with the court not to give the committee authority beyond its subpoena request for his emails. They said they disagreed with filings from the defendants that suggested the court should force the institution to turn over other documents other than emails, including “engagement letters, retainer agreements, and any applicable joint defense or common interest agreements.”
“The defendants do not contend that such productions are required by the subpoena or cite any authority in support of this request. Although Congress has broad investigative authority, it cannot simply issue unsupported demands for documents it perceives would enhance its litigation position. The Court should deny this request,” Eastman’s lawyers argued.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Lawyers for Eastman and the committee are set to meet with Carter on Monday afternoon for a status hearing.
Eastman was subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 committee last November. A few weeks later, he sent a letter to the committee, invoking his Fifth Amendment rights not to be a witness against himself. In response, the committee sought other ways to get information about him. In addition to subpoenaing Chapman University, the committee also subpoenaed Verizon to get phone records on him. He has also challenged that subpoena in court.
