Members of the State Bar of California are seeking to immediately sanction lawyer John Eastman, an ally of former President Donald Trump, even in the wake of new charges.
Despite Eastman being implicated in assisting Trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election, California bar authorities say his disbarment trial next week should continue on schedule.
State bar attorney Duncan Carling wrote in a Tuesday filing that prior delays and Eastman's move to waive his Fifth Amendment rights by taking the stand in June precluded him from pushing it back further.
Carling also warned that the case from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' office against him could take "years to resolve" due to "the number of co-defendants," risking the loss of crucial evidence over that period.
But if the disbarment trial's judge, Yvette Roland, does side with Eastman, Carling requested that she permit the bar to finish presenting all the remaining evidence it possibly can.
"The public interest," Carling said, "weighs strongly in [the] interest of resolving these competing positions as quickly as possible."
Eastman was indicted Monday night by the grand jury overseeing the case on nine counts related to his alleged role in helping Trump design a legal strategy to keep him in power after his election loss.
The 98-page court filing accuses Eastman of sending documents he admitted earlier in the day were inaccurate to assist Trump's effort to decertify the election results.
It also cites Eastman's emails ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot on the strategy to challenge and disrupt election certification, including an alleged conspiracy to appoint alternate electors in Georgia and other states.
Eastman was one of 17 other Trump allies, in addition to the former president himself, who was handed down charges this week in a case largely stemming from a controversial 2021 phone call to Georgia officials.
In the call, the audio of which was eventually leaked, Trump asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger "to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have because we won the state."
Eastman is the founding director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence at the Claremont Institute, a conservative and pro-Trump think tank based in California.
He was previously a law professor at Chapman University and a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Luca Cacciatore ✉
Luca Cacciatore, a Newsmax general assignment writer, is based in Arlington, Virginia, reporting on news and politics.
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