This booking photo provided by the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office shows John Eastman on Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2023, in Atlanta. Eastman is charged alongside former President Donald Trump and 17 others, accused by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis of scheming to subvert the will of Georgia voters. (Fulton County Sheriff’s Office via AP)
As the soap opera in Georgia rivets the nation, the deadline for a California Bar judge to rule on John Eastman’s law license — can he keep it and earn money to fight those criminal charges in Georgia, or will he be disbarred for trying to overthrow democracy? — was supposed to be February’s end.
But decision day has been pushed back a month or so.
Turns out the State Bar’s prosecutor incorrectly cited a court case in a filing and asked to fix it. Attorneys for Eastman, the former dean of Chapman Law School, responded with a long list of other things they consider to be factually incorrect in the prosecutor’s filings. So now Judge Yvette Roland’s decision will be due by March 27, a State Bar spokesperson said by email.
Eastman has been charged with 11 counts by the State Bar, the most colorful of which are “dishonesty and moral turpitude.” He’s accused of prodding state electors to send fake electoral votes for Trump to the Capitol, of filing false information with courts, of spreading incendiary lies that fed the rage that consumed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and cost several people their lives.
Meantime, the former dean is keeping an eagle eye on the drama in the Peach State — seeing, perhaps, a way out — and pushing for more contributions to cover millions in legal bills.
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“The sixty four dollar question many people are asking is whether Fulton County (Georgia) District Attorney Fani Willis and her (apparently former) boyfriend will be removed from prosecuting President Trump, me and some 17 other defendants on ridiculous, politically-motivated charges,” Eastman wrote in an essay published Wednesday, Feb. 21, on City News OKC’s website.
“The answer, according to numerous legal experts is: they sure should be. Judge Scott McAfee’s hearing last week turned into a must-watch TV drama. It reminded me of watching O.J. Simpson driving his white Bronco on a Los Angeles freeway back in the day with TV helicopters hovering above and police cars behind. You just couldn’t turn away, wondering how things would end….
“I obviously am much more than just an interested observer in this legal drama. The two people at its center are seeking to ruin my life, destroy my reputation and put me in prison simply because I lawfully gave President Trump legal advice on questioning the integrity of the 2020 election.”
Willis’ Georgia grand jury indicted Eastman, Trump and others on racketeering and other charges, saying they aimed to disenfranchise Georgia voters.
The former president’s former lawyer has bemoaned the “surreal, exhausting battle to defend my integrity” in fundraising emails, pinning the price tag for his legal defense at some $3 million to $3.5 million. He faces “an onslaught of false charges leveled by radical leftwing lawyers working with lawfare groups. Tragically, many of these false charges were repeated nearly word-for-word by State Bar prosecutors and form the basis of the Bar’s prosecution against me,” he told potential contributors.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis testifies during a hearing on the Georgia election interference case on Feb. 15. (Alyssa Pointer/Pool Photo via AP)
Eastman’s GiveSendGo account has hit $628,000, with more than $10,000 in small donations pouring in over the past month. A donor recently kicked in $1,000, saying, “I remain appalled that the California Bar is persecuting you for zealously representing your client. How could the ethics authorities be so unethical?”
Eastman is categorically innocent of all the charges against him, Eastman has said, and is doing everything in his power to defend himself and expose the truth.
“The unprecedented ferocity and extent of the various lawfare attacks against me have been grueling,” he wrote on CityNewsOKC. “I am fighting this lawfare assault vigorously but I’m going to need to raise over $3 million to contend with the totality of the assault being waged against me.
“Whatever happens in Judge McAfee’s courtroom, or with the California State Bar Judge’s ruling, or a disbarment complaint that was filed with the US Supreme Court, or with Jack Smith’s case in Washington DC, my legal team needs to be ready to act on a moment’s notice. My family and I urgently need help to sustain my defense and to continue our efforts to expose the truth of what really happened in the 2020 election.”
The truth, the State Bar maintains, is that Eastman engaged in multiple acts of wrongdoing to keep Trump in power despite losing the election. His misconduct strikes at the very heart of what it means to be a lawyer, sought to undermine democracy, subvert the peaceful transfer of presidential power and thwart the will of the people in a free and fair election, prosecutors say.
“In doing so, he betrayed the fundamental duties and oaths he swore to uphold,” prosecutors wrote in closing arguments. “(He) remains brazenly remorseless … and has made clear that he would continue to engage in the same misconduct if allowed. The only appropriate outcome is disbarment.”
We’ll know by March 27 which way this goes.
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