Who is John Eastman? Lawyer for former President Donald Trump indicted in election interference case

Key players in Trump investigation John Eastman, Attorney for Trump Eastman was among those who testified before a Georgia State Senate subcommittee making several claims of voter fraud. He was a key architect of the attempt to pressure Vice President Mike Pence into rejecting the official Democratic electors in Georgia and other swing states in favor of 'alternate' Trump electors. Eastman was a key participant in the subsequent attempts to overturn the election. On January 6, 2021, Eastman presented a speech at the White House Trump rally that preceded the 2021 United States Capitol attack. Eastman subsequently implored Vice President Pence to violate the Electoral Count Act to delay certification of the election. Eastman retired from the Chapman University faculty after the controversy created by his having spoken at the Trump rally. On March 28, 2022, federal judge David O. Carter found Eastman, along with Trump, was more likely than not to have "dishonestly conspired to obstruct the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021". In December 2022, the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack recommended Eastman be charged with obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy to defraud the United States, along with Trump and potentially others.

By WSBTV.com News Staff

ATLANTA — A Georgia grand jury voted to indict former President Donald Trump and 18 of his allies, including one of his attorneys John Eastman.

It was Dec. 3, 2020, and a state Senate subcommittee heard testimony about allegations of massive voter fraud all across the state of Georgia -- fraud that state and federal investigations revealed did not happen.

[READ: Former President Donald Trump among 19 indicted in Georgia election interference case]

It was at this meeting that Georgia lawmakers heard virtually from constitutional law professor John Eastman.

Along with Rudy Giuliani, who was at that hearing in person, Eastman was one of then-President Donald Trump’s attorneys.

He repeated the false claim that there were more than 100,000 illegal votes cast in Georgia.

The Jan. 6 Commission called Eastman one of the architects of the scheme to overturn the 2020 election.

It was during this hearing that Eastman alleged there was so much voter fraud, Georgia lawmakers had the legal authority to toss out the popular vote and the Democratic electors and select their own.

“Quite simply means the state has failed to make its choice on election day,” Eastman testified. “I don’t think it’s just your authority to do that, but quite frankly, I think you have a duty to do that to protect the integrity of the election here in Georgia.”

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It was during that hearing that Georgia lawmakers got a preview of what the Jan. 6 Commission said was Eastman’s ultimate plan, to have then-Vice President Mike Pence accept only the Republican false electors during the count on Jan. 6 and declare Trump the winner.

“If you have the governor’s certified slate of electors and a legislative slate of electors, unfortunately Section 15 of Title 3 is embarrassingly ambiguous which of those slate of electors ought to be counted.” Eastman said.

Pence refused on Jan. 6., saying he did not have the constitutional authority to do it.

But Eastman’s testimony and the testimony of others convinced the subcommittee to write a report declaring that there had been enough suspicion of voter fraud to warrant Gov. Brian Kemp calling a special session to allow to them to overturn the election.

“Ask our governor to call us in for a special session. He wins either way. If we find no improprieties, the governor looks good. If we find improprieties, the governor looks good. Let’s get on with it,” said state Sen. Carden Summer at the time.

Kemp refused, saying, despite what Eastman claimed, he did not have the constitutional authority to call a special session for that reason.

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