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Trump-linked lawyer John Eastman has been ordered to hand over a new batch of emails that could indicate a crime was committed, a federal judge claimed Tuesday.
U.S. District Court Judge David Carter directed Eastman to turn over 159 documents of emails to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, including documents that contain details about three meetings Eastman held with a group of supporters of former President Donald Trump helmed by a “high-profile” leader in December 2020.
TRUMP DIRECTLY INVOLVED IN STRATEGY TO OVERTURN ELECTION, EASTMAN SAYS
“The Select Committee has a substantial interest in these three meetings because the presentations furthered a critical objective of the January 6 plan: to have contested states certify alternate slates of electors for President Trump,” Carter wrote in a Tuesday ruling.
The latest trove was part of a broader slew of 600 emails Eastman hoped to keep from the Jan. 6 committee, arguing they contained privileged information, CBS reported. He is ordered to deliver the batch of emails to the panel by 5 p.m. Wednesday.
At least 10 documents from the batch pertain to the three meetings. Four were related to a Dec. 8, 2020, meeting, and five laid out the agenda for a Dec. 9, 2020, meeting that had a section titled “GROUND GAME following Nov 4 Election Results,” according to Carter. A sitting member of Congress “discussed a ‘plan to challenge the electors in the House of Representatives'” during that Dec. 9, 2020, meeting, per Carter.
The other email involves the potential crime Carter referenced in his ruling. A lawyer for the Trump team mused about avoiding the courts as part of its challenge of the 2020 election results, according to a Dec. 22, 2020, exchange.
“Because the attorney concluded that a negative court ruling would ‘tank the January 6 strategy,’ he encouraged the legal team to avoid the courts,” Carter explained. “The Trump legal team chose not to seek recourse in court — instead, they forged ahead with a political campaign to disrupt the electoral count. Lawyers are free not to bring cases; they are not free to evade judicial review to overturn a democratic election. Accordingly, this portion of the email is subject to the crime-fraud exception and must be disclosed.”
Carter did not list the names of those involved in the three key meetings. In addition to the 10 documents pertaining to the three December meetings, Carter also ordered Eastman to disclose documents that contained communications with Trump as part of the 159-document trove.
“One is a communication from President Trump about a state campaign rally. Three documents discuss President Trump’s potential press releases on state electors. These documents do not reference litigation and Dr. Eastman fails to provide context as to how they could pertain to litigation. Accordingly, these four documents are not protected,” Carter detailed.
Eastman advised the Trump legal team in its efforts to challenge the 2020 election. A key focal point of his strategy centered on exploiting provisions in the Electoral Count Act to make Trump the winner, either by prodding Congress or then-Vice President Mike Pence to decertify the election or by encouraging state legislators to put forth alternative slates of electors.
“Dr. Eastman’s actions in these few weeks indicate that his and President Trump’s pressure campaign to stop the electoral count did not end with Vice President Pence — it targeted every tier of federal and state elected officials. Convincing state legislatures to certify competing electors was essential to stop the count and ensure President Trump’s reelection,” Carter wrote.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Carter also reiterated a prior ruling that protected 409 documents Eastman sought to block from the panel that were not “pivotal” to the committee’s inquiry.
Eastman has been ensnared in a monthslong court battle with the Jan. 6 committee. Earlier this year, the panel subpoenaed Chapman University, his former employer, to gain insights into his legal advice about how to challenge the election. Eastman quickly fired back with a lawsuit challenging the subpoena, and Carter has been sorting through his privilege claims. Last month, the committee dropped its objections to about 13,929 pages worth of emails he sought to block, dramatically lowering the documents in the legal crosshairs.
