John Eastman, the lawyer — for now — who infamously joined former President Donald Trump in the ex-White House occupant’s desperate attempts to stay in power after the last presidential election, recently appeared for an interview on Fox News with host Laura Ingraham. Observers don’t think it went well.
In short, Eastman tried to distance himself from the idea of Mike Pence having simply rejected some of Biden’s electoral votes while Pence, as vice president, presided over Congressional proceedings certifying the election outcome from 2020. In so doing, however, Eastman allied himself on the air with the idea for Pence to have sent the matter for further consideration by state legislators, which would have delayed the legally outlined process of finalizing the results. Eastman “says on Fox News that what he wanted on Jan. 6 was for VP Pence to delay certification from happening for a week,” journalist Hugo Lowell observed. “Not news but in his own words it sounds like he wanted to impede the certification.”
Obstruction of an official proceeding is a federal criminal offense, and though Eastman has yet to face any federal charges, some have expected more federal criminal allegations against Trump allies could emerge. Eastman was charged in Georgia in the case alleging a conspiracy to target specifically that state’s results.
George Conway, the conservative lawyer and legal commentator, was similarly suspicious of Eastman’s prospects after the Fox interview. “It’s going to sound like that to prosecutors, judges, and juries too,” Conway said of the idea Eastman was wanting to upend the certification proceedings. Eastman is also currently facing disciplinary proceedings in California that could lead to his disbarment.
He’s not the only lawyer allied with Trump who’s recently faced legally precarious news. A federal judge recently issued a default judgment against Rudy Giuliani in a defamation case from two former election workers in Georgia who were named in debunked conspiracy theories about widespread fraud and whose lives were upended by the pro-Trump lies. Giuliani now faces the prospect of a trial to determine the level of financial damages to impose. A lawyer for the former election workers, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, said on CNN he anticipated an argument from their side of damage reaching tens of millions of dollars.
It’s going to sound like that to prosecutors, judges, and juries too. https://t.co/VjzaY3iTKB
— Xeorge Xonway (@gtconway3d) August 31, 2023
