Eastman stood on the stand for greater than twelve hours all through the trial and described his interactions with Trump within the Oval Workplace assembly on January 4, 2021; his work with different members of Trump’s authorized workforce akin to Boris Epshteyn and Kenneth Chesebro; and the drafting of his notorious memo describing the choices out there to Pence to say management of the electoral vote depend on January 6, 2021.
Eastman’s battle for a legislation license comes as he additionally tries to fend off prison expenses in Georgia, the place he has been charged alongside Trump and 17 others in a sweeping racketeering conspiracy aimed toward subverting the state’s election legal guidelines in 2020.
Eastman stated he by no means thought in regards to the impression of his phrases on Jan. 6, 2021, when he addressed a crowd of Trump supporters who gathered close to the White Home earlier than their march to the Capitol. He stated the gang was already satisfied the election was stolen and was there to see Trump, not him, and didn’t view his remarks as someway “cementing” their anger.
“I did not give it some thought someway,” he stated on the witness stand. “My level in talking on January 6 was to lift considerations in regards to the illegality of holding the election which can have led to the certification of somebody who didn’t win the election.”
California Bar investigators spent a lot of the trial delving into Eastman’s allegations of fraud he utilized in a failed try to influence state legislatures to ship “conditional” presidential electors to Congress on January 6. They claimed that Eastman relied on clearly flawed proof. Strategies and assumptions aimed toward securing a predetermined final result: that Trump ought to stay in energy.
All through his testimony, Eastman maintained that he by no means confirmed Trump his two- and six-page memo outlining the choices out there to Pence, which he stated have been merely “inner” paperwork outlining “eventualities” for Trump’s legal professionals to think about. He stated he solely remembers sharing the memos with Epshteyn and Chesebro earlier than assembly with Trump on January 4, 2021.
At that assembly, Eastman stated he suggested Trump to easily ask Pence to adjourn congressional proceedings on January 6, quite than declare Trump the winner — an possibility he thought of extra politically palatable. States with Republican-controlled legislatures — the place Biden gained essential electoral votes — might have used the delay to determine whether or not to nominate pro-Trump electors as a substitute, citing among the fraud allegations Eastman was pushing.
Pence resisted the plan, claiming it might require quite a few violations of an historical federal legislation generally known as the Poll Counting Act, and resisted stress from each Trump and Eastman that continued whilst a violent mob ransacked the Capitol, a few of whom have been going after Pence himself.
Lead counsel Duncan Carling additionally pressed Eastman on his view on the current plea deal reached by co-defendant Jenna Ellis, an lawyer who admitted to orchestrating perjury about election fraud earlier than Georgia lawmakers in 2020. Eastman stated her plea — which he stated was It was tied to her position within the Dec. 3, 2020, listening to held by Georgia Republican lawmakers by which Eastman was additionally a key witness — and had no bearing on his continued views on election fraud in 2020.
He stated: “My statements have been offered with caveats that make all of them true.”