Former Trump attorney John Eastman – one of more than a dozen associates of the former president who have been indicted this month and charged in Fulton County, Georgia, for their role in an alleged plot to overturn the state’s 2020 election results – denounced the criminal case. In a statement last week, he said he and other attorneys working at the behest of Donald Trump were being targeted “for their zealous advocacy on behalf of their clients.”
Eastman, who faces nine criminal counts including racketeering and filing false documents, appeared on Fox News Channel’s “The Ingraham Angle,” where he told host Laura Ingraham that he was following his client’s wishes. He further maintained that there was voter fraud – a claim that has been largely debunked.
“One of the other things they said is that Bill Barr said there wasn’t any evidence of fraud,” Eastman said, referring to the former attorney general. “Well, I have lots of evidence of fraud.”
Ingraham, who was a supporter of former President Trump during his tenure in the White House, pushed back on the claims.
“I haven’t seen that evidence, and I’m always wanting to see everything,” Ingraham said. “I’d love to see that evidence.”
Earlier in the interview with the Fox News host, Eastman claimed “We did nothing wrong,” and suggested, “We were challenging the election for what even Vice President [Mike] Pence described as serious allegations of fraud and numerous instances of officials violating state law.”
Just Following Orders from Donald Trump
Eastman along with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani – Trump’s personal attorney and another defendant in the Georgia case – have essentially taken the argument that they were just doing their job. It was the “just following orders” argument that most legal scholars have said isn’t a solid defense.
“The law books are replete with examples of lawyers who were disciplined for claiming they were representing their clients,” Barry Richard, who represented George W. Bush’s winning presidential campaign in 2000 in a dispute ultimately decided by the Supreme Court, told the Associated Press. “Lawyers are required to follow very stringent rules of propriety. And there are certain things you can’t do for your clients. You cannot tell the court facts you have reason to know are not true.”
A similar sentiment was offered by Stephen Saltzburg, a George Washington University law professor and former Justice Department official, who suggested, “The real question is, at what point does a lawyer who knows that the legal theory that that lawyer is espousing has never been accepted anywhere — when does the lawyer cross the line if the lawyer suggests sort of that it is OK, that it’s clearly OK? And that’s a fuzzy line.”
The Court of Social Media
Numerous legal experts were quick to weigh in on social media, Forbes.com reported. A question asked on X – the social media platform formerly known as Twitter – was why Eastman admitted to Laura Ingraham this week that he asked then-Vice President Mike Pence to delay the results.
“He literally just confessed to the crime,” noted attorney Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) who specializes in litigation on matters relating to national security, federal employment, and security clearance.
Georgia State University law professor Anthony Michael Kreis (@AnthonyMKreis) tweeted, “The thing about the Eastman interview is that I suspect, he’s admitting to committing federal crimes on national television because he’s fixated on Georgia, which is why he should keep his mouth shut for his own benefit (or in the interest of transparency keep going).”
Author Experience and Expertise
A Senior Editor for 19FortyFive, Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu.
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