Lawyer behind Trump election memos invoked 5th Amendment 146 times before January 6 panel
John Eastman, the conservative law professor who authored memos outlining how President Donald Trump could overturn the results of the 2020 election, invoked his Fifth Amendment rights 146 times when he was questioned by the Jan. 6 committee last month, a lawyer for the panel revealed late Monday.
The disclosure came in a court hearing before U.S. District Judge David Carter in Santa Ana, Calif., on Eastman’s lawsuit to block a subpoena from the committee directing Chapman University — where he previously worked as a professor — to turn over more than 19,000 emails relating to his work for Trump in the months following the Nov. 3, 2020, election.
The Eastman emails are considered crucial evidence by the committee because, in its view, the law professor’s memos laid out a road map for a constitutional coup: They argued that Vice President Mike Pence could refuse to accept the certified results of the Electoral College vote declaring President-elect Joe Biden the winner. Pence publicly rejected Eastman’s advice, agreeing with the vast majority of legal experts who said he did not have the power to reverse the voters. [Continue reading…]