Constitutional legal scholar John Eastman, who served as an attorney to former President Donald Trump during the 2020 election lawsuits, is being prosecuted in both Georgia and Washington, D.C., and has undergone a disciplinary trial by the State Bar of California due to his role. Eastman’s criminal attorney filed a pleading in the Georgia RICO prosecution on Monday asking to move up the date to accept a plea agreement in that case so his trial can proceed sooner, explaining that his situation was different than Trump’s which needs a later date. The mainstream media claimed Eastman was attacking the former president, with NBC reporting that Eastman “takes digs” at Trump.
Unlike another one of Trump’s former attorneys who is also undergoing prosecution, Jenna Ellis, Eastman has never said anything negative about Trump. Eastman pleaded innocent, so he would prefer not to drag the process out. Trump has also pleaded not guilty.
In Eastman’s Opposition to the State’s Motion to Schedule Trial Date for August 5, 2024, Eastman requested an early plea deadline “so that Defendants who do not have lifetime United States Secret Service protection and who are not running for election to an office can exercise and have their right to a jury trial completed within 2024.” Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis requested a plea deadline of June 21, 2024, with the trial commencing on August 5, 2024.
Eastman (pictured above) explained that “severing the Defendants into two groups would provide more than enough time for the Court to try two trials each of eight or fewer defendants, absent former president Trump who at the present may be said to be the presumptive Republican nominee for the office of President of the United States. Without Defendant Trump in the courtroom the U.S. Secret Service will not be involved in providing enhanced security, and the trials will proceed faster.”
NBC interpreted his filing as hostile to Trump instead of a pragmatic move. The news article was titled “Trump co-defendant takes digs at former president in requesting speedier timeline in Georgia election case.” The article began, “John Eastman, a co-defendant of Donald Trump in the Georgia election interference case, appeared to take a dig at the former president in a filing Monday that pressed the court for a faster schedule next year.”
The Daily Beast published an article with a title also implying that Eastman and Trump weren’t getting along. It was titled “John Eastman Breaks With Co-Defendant Trump, Requests Quicker Trial Schedule.” It said Eastman “took a dig at co-defendant Donald Trump in a filing.”
MSNBC’s article had a similar title, “Eastman says he wants sooner plea deadline, split from Trump.”
In contrast, Above the Law reported that the filing revealed the opposite — Eastman’s loyalty to Trump. The article was titled, “John Eastman Posts Love Note To Trump On Fulton County RICO Docket: He’s not flipping. Definitely not. No way. Never.” The article said, “Eastman delivered a big, wet kiss to Donald Trump, signaling to the former president and his supporters that he’s not going to melt…”
During all 33 days of the California Bar’s disciplinary trial against him, where he testified for many days and referred to Trump repeatedly, he never spoke negatively about him. Eastman has a post pinned to the top of X from July 2019 that says “Thank you Mr. President,” tagging Trump. It was a response to Trump referring to him in a tweet as a “brilliant constitutional lawyer.”
Eastman’s GiveSendGo legal defense fund has raised $575,000 out of the $750,000 needed. Closing written statements in his disbarment trial are due Friday. The California Bar disciplinary judge has already said she found him culpable and will issue her opinion soon afterward on whether to disbar him or fully assess a lesser punishment.
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter / X. Email tips to [email protected].
