BREAKING NEWS: January 6 Committee says it believes Trump committed crimes in his attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election
The committee in the US House of Representatives investigation the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021 said in a court filing Wednesday it believes that former President Donald Trump violated ‘multiple laws’ in his attempt to overturn the 2020 Presidential Election.
The filing argued that the committee disagrees with the claim of attorney John Eastmann, who is behind the notorious ‘coup memo,’ which argued that former Vice President Mike Pence had unilateral power to overturn Trump’s loss to Joe Biden.
Eastmann, who is currently being investigated by the California State Bar Association, cited attorney-client privilege to avoid giving testimony.
The committee argues that Eastmann has no such privilege because they believe he and others, including Trump, ‘may have engaged in criminal and/or fraudulent acts’ in their attempts to overturn the election.’
They claimed in the filing that they have enough evidence to show ‘a good-faith basis for concluding that President Trump has violated section 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2),’ or the obstruction of an official act of Congress.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks at the 2022 Conservative Political Action Conference
They believe that Trump and his associates did this and did so with the intent to break the law.
The House Committee – which features only two Republicans, the anti-Trump Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger – added that it has ‘a good-faith basis for concluding that the President and members of his Campaign engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371.’
Eastman, the former dean of the Chapman University law school in Southern California, argued after the November 2020 election that then-Vice President Mike Pence could overturn the results and keep Trump in power. Critics have likened that to instructions for staging a coup.
Pence refused to do that and Trump left office. But since then, Eastman has been subpoenaed by a committee of U.S. lawmakers investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.
On Tuesday, the State Bar of California confirmed it has been investigating Eastman since September. Such investigations are usually kept secret, but the State Bar’s rules say it can publicly confirm them ‘when warranted for protection of the public.’
In a news release, the bar said ‘details of the investigation must remain confidential’ to comply with state law and ‘give the investigation the greatest chance of success.’
George Cardona, the State Bar’s chief trial counsel, investigates and prosecutes attorney disciplinary matters before the State Bar Court, which can recommend attorneys be either suspended or, in some cases, lose their licenses to practice law. The California Supreme Court ultimately decides what to do.
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