John Eastman: An important revelation about the role of lawyers in efforts to overturn elections

Willing to tolerate violence to overturn the election

Former Trump White House lawyer Eric Hirschman told the Commission that Eastman was ready to accept violence to overturn the 2020 elections.

The Commission has played a video from Helschmann’s deposit explaining a conversation with Eastman about his claim that Pence could overturn the parliamentary elections.

“I said,’Are you crazy?'” Hirschman said. “It was pretty straightforward. I said,’You’re completely crazy.’ I said, “You look back and tell more than 78 million people in this country that your theory is how you invalidate their votes. You said the elections were stolen. Do you think? “

Hirschman told Eastman: “They aren’t going to tolerate it. You’ll cause a riot on the street.”

“And he said,’There was violence in our history, either to protect democracy or to protect the republic,'” Hirschman said.

Continued to seek delays in election recognition after the riots

Eastman continued to promote ways to delay the recognition of the 2020 elections, even after the riots were removed from the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Former Pence adviser Greg Jacob testified.

Jacob, who appeared before the commission to testify on Thursday, was asked during hearings if he had heard anything more from Eastman after the riots were subdued.

“Since the voter voting law was set to be less sacred than previously claimed, we considered another relatively minor breach and postponed it for 10 days so that the legislature could end the investigation. It is recommended to do so. ”Written in the email presented during the hearing by the Commission.

Jacob, who clashed with Eastman about his plans, said he eventually shared Eastman’s proposal with Pence a day or two later.

According to Jacob, Pence replied that Eastman’s idea was “in the rubber room.”

Asked to explain what that means, Jacob said: Over time, he was still urging us to do what we were asking for in the last two days. It was definitely crazy. “

Accepted legal theory will fail in the Supreme Court

The commission claimed on Thursday that Eastman knew that his plan to block the election would fail if he went to the Supreme Court, but right-wing lawyers continued to stimulate Trump’s hopes.

According to Jacob’s testimony, Eastman first tried to claim that the Supreme Court would land 7-2 in their vote, but then his legal theory admitted to losing 9-0.

At some point during the hearing, Jacob was asked if during the hearing he had told him what the Supreme Court would do if Eastman had to decide on an issue.

Jacob said, “Yes, there was a long one-and-a-half to two-hour discussion on January 5. If the Vice President did what you were asking for him when I pushed him that point. I told John, would we lose 9-0 in the Supreme Court? And he first started, “Well, maybe you only lose 7-2,” and argued further. Later, “Yes, you’re right, we’ll lose 9, nothing.”

Jacob later stated that Eastman tried to claim that the court was not involved in the dispute. “Therefore, if the court avoids it, it means that the state has 10 days to consider and resolve it,” Eastman told him. “And they will send back the voter Trump’s slate, and people will be able to accept it.”

Jacob said such a scenario would “create an unprecedented constitutional jump ball situation with its standoffs. As I have stated to him, the issue may have to be decided on the street. I don’t know. “

Asked for forgiveness

The Commission said Eastman had made a request to Giuliani, a former Trump lawyer, via email they owned.

“If it’s still working, I’ve decided that I should be on the amnesty list,” reads the email from Eastman to Giuliani.

Eastman was ultimately unpardoned, refused to answer the Commission’s questions about his role in efforts to overturn the 2020 elections, and pleaded for a fifth during his testimony.