California bar moves to strip Trump lawyer John Eastman of law license

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The State Bar of California is pursuing the disbarment of John Eastman, an attorney who was involved in former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

George Cardona, the state licensing body’s chief trial counsel, announced the case, and its 11 charges, in a news release on Thursday. The charges stem from Eastman crafting two memos that proposed strategies to block then-President-elect Joe Biden from taking office.

The complaint also charges Eastman with making false statements about election fraud during a Jan. 6, 2021 rally outside the White House. His remarks “contributed” to provoking a crowd of Trump supporters to storm the Capitol and intimidate then-Vice President to prevent the electoral count, the state bar alleges.

“For California attorneys, adherence to the U.S. and California Constitutions is their highest legal duty,” said Cardona, in Thursday’s news release. The Notice of Disciplinary Charges alleges that Mr. Eastman violated this duty in furtherance of an attempt to usurp the will of the American people and overturn election results for the highest office in the land—an egregious and unprecedented attack on our democracy—for which he must be held accountable.”

The complaint points out that multiple officials, including the U.S. Department of Justice, said there was no evidence of the widespread election fraud touted by Trump’s supporters.

“Eastman knew, or should have known, that the factual premise for his proposals―that massive fraud was at play―was false, and that Trump had lost his bid for re-election,” the state bar said in its statement.

Eastman faces more legal challenges in the coming months.

He has been drawn into a federal criminal investigation into alleged 2020 election interference in Atlanta, according to news reports. The House of Representatives Jan. 6 committee also recently asked the Justice Department to investigate Eastman on several criminal charges. At a questioning by the committee, Eastman invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times.

Eastman previously defended his actions in a statement when announcing his retirement from the Chapman University School of Law, where he taught.