<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1656369110006,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"0000017d-00b6-db7d-abfd-7cb766d10000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1656369110006,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"0000017d-00b6-db7d-abfd-7cb766d10000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_55928744", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1038335"} }); ","_id":"00000181-a74a-da7c-a7c7-e76ed88f0000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedTrump-linked lawyer John Eastman is claiming that federal agents “frisked” him and seized his cellphone last Thursday while he was exiting a restaurant.
Eastman, who spearheaded the legal strategy to challenge the 2020 election results, made the assertions in court documents for a motion demanding the return of his cellphone and decrying the search as an “unconstitutional intrusion” on his “rights to privacy.”
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“Federal agents served a search warrant (Exhibit 1) on movant while movant was exiting a restaurant. Movant asked to see the warrant, but the executing officer refused. Movant was frisked. Movant’s phone — an iPhone Pro 12 —was seized. Movant was forced to provide biometric data to open said phone,” reads the filing in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico. “He was only given a copy of the search warrant but not the supporting affidavit referenced in it.”
The search and seizure took place in New Mexico, CNN reported.
Eastman included a copy of the search warrant in his court filing, but it does not make it clear why law enforcement wanted his cellphone. In addition to requesting the return of his phone, Eastman is also seeking to block authorities from accessing it.
The search appears to indicate that he is now in the crosshairs of the Justice Department prosecutors whose inquiry of the events surrounding the Capitol riot reportedly encompasses an alternative electors scheme to challenge the election. Eastman had pushed for the use of alternative electors as a means of tipping the election toward then-President Donald Trump, according to his emails.
The agents identified themselves as members of the FBI, and Eastman recalled in court documents that “they appeared to be executing a warrant issued at the behest of the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General.”
For months, Eastman had been ensnared in a contentious legal spat with the Jan. 6 committee, which had subpoenaed his emails. Ultimately, he was compelled by a judge to hand over thousands of pages’ worth of emails to the panel, which developed a keen interest in his legal scheming to challenge the 2020 election.
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The search of Eastman last week appears to have coincided with the search of Jeff Clark last Wednesday, a day before the fifth public House Jan. 6 committee summer hearing that focused heavily on the duo. Clark was a Justice Department official whom Trump strongly considered for attorney general. He had peddled election malfeasance claims and tried to get top brass at the department to sign a letter to Georgia officials contending there were “significant concerns” about the election in the Peach State. Ultimately, the officials refused to sign the letter, and it was never sent.
Last week, officials also served subpoenas against three state Republican Party chairs who participated in the fake elector scheme, Politico reported.
