Former Trump attorney John Eastman asked Rudy Giuliani in the days following the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol to consider him for a presidential pardon, according to the House select committee investigating the riot.
Eastman’s request for a pardon indicates the lawyer knew his actions could be criminal, as he pushed for former Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
“I’ve decided that I should be on the pardon list, if that is still in the works,” Eastman wrote in an email to Giuliani.
Eastman had aggressively pushed Pence aides to use his authority as vice president to help overturn the results while overseeing the certification of the 2020 election, while separately acknowledging the plan was illegal, said Pence attorney Greg Jacob on Thursday.
Eastman was willing to do whatever it took, telling some officials that he would accept violence if it succeeded in overturning the election, according to video testimony of former Trump White House attorney Eric Herschmann.
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“And he said words to the effect of, ‘There’s been violence in the history of our country in order to protect the democracy, or to protect the republic,'” Herschmann said.
Even after the Jan. 6 riot, Eastman continued his efforts to halt the certification of the election, emailing Pence aides at 11:44 p.m that night to suggest a last-ditch effort of considering “one more relatively minor violation” of the Electoral Count Act, according to the digital communications.
“So now that the precedent has been set that the Electoral Count Act is not quite so sacrosanct as was previously claimed, I implore you to consider one more relatively minor violation and adjourn for 10 days to allow the legislatures to finish their investigations,” Eastman wrote in an email.
Eastman did not receive a pardon. Instead, the attorney refused to answer the panel’s questions during a deposition, repeatedly invoking his Fifth Amendment rights. The former attorney invoke this right at least 100 times during his interviews, said Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA).
