Substitute while the actions of the article are loading
Federal agents last week seized the cell phone of John Eastman, a lawyer who made false allegations that voter fraud tarnished the 2020 election and who called on President Donald Trump and other Republicans to block Joe Biden from becoming president.
Eastman’s lawyer, Charles Burnham, filed a lawsuit in federal court in New Mexico on Monday, asking a judge to order his cell phone returned to Eastman. He was seized under a search warrant when he left a restaurant on Wednesday – a day when federal agents across the country delivered summonses, carried out search warrants and questioned witnesses in a significant expansion of criminal investigations around the January 6, 2021 attack.
That same day, federal agents searched the home of Jeffrey Clark in northern Virginia, a former Justice Department official whom Trump planned to appoint to run the department because he was ready to continue a scheme to invalidate election results in some key states.
Both Clark and Eastman played a crucial role in Trump’s efforts in late 2020 and early 2021 to persuade U.S. lawmakers in about half a dozen states to replace the electors Biden won with voters for Trump. In theory, such a change would keep Trump in the White House.
With the echo of Watergate, Trump’s appointees describe efforts to cancel the election, keep the post
Monday’s court documents also show that the Justice Department’s chief inspector became involved in criminal investigations around Jan. 6 because Eastman says his phone was taken by FBI agents acting on behalf of the inspector general. A spokeswoman for the inspector general declined to comment. Burham did not immediately respond to an email asking for more information about the seizure.
The Chief Inspector is an independent entity in charge of waste eradication, fraud and abuse within the Ministry of Justice. IG’s investigations examine the behavior of current or former employees of the department, and the role of the service in this case suggests that it may review the contents of Eastman’s phone as part of a criminal investigation against Clark or others who once worked in the department.
In court documents seeking the return of his phone, Eastman claims that because he has never been an employee of the Ministry of Justice, he is “outside the jurisdiction of the OIG.”
Court documents say that when Eastman asked to see the order, the request was denied. He was searched, his iPhone was confiscated and he was “forced to provide biometric data to open” the phone, the file said.
This claim may be the subject of a dispute, as the order for his telephone explicitly states that he may be asked to voluntarily provide a password or biometric data, but he cannot be forced to provide this information.
The order also assumes that federal prosecutors are prepared for a court battle over the contents of the phone, as it contains a provision that its contents will not be seen immediately by the investigation team.
The January 6 criminal investigation appears to be expanding with a new round of subpoenas, search warrants
In his own file, Eastman notes that his phone contained “emails that have been the subject of an intense five-month privilege dispute between [himself] and the U.S. House of Representatives, an elected commission to investigate the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The court also noted that a federal judge in California had previously ruled that some of Eastman’s emails were “protected by the freedom of association of the First Amendment, by the privilege of a client lawyer, and / or by the doctrine of the work product.”
Eastman’s role in the preparations for January 6 and beyond was a key focus of this committee, which scheduled a hearing Tuesday afternoon with as yet unannounced witnesses or witnesses.
Even as an angry violent mob searched the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to prevent lawmakers from counting the electoral votes that made Biden president, Eastman continued to argue for the cancellation of the election results, according to an exchange of emails that day. After Pence was escorted by the Senate for his own safety, Pence’s aide, Greg Jacob, sent Eastman a furious email.
“Thanks to your bull —- we are now under siege,” Jacob wrote, according to Eastman.
What was happening in the Capitol was “YOU and your boss did not do what was necessary to allow it to be broadcast in public so that the American people could see what happened,” Eastman wrote back to Jacob. referring to Trump’s allegations of voter fraud.
Former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark’s electronic devices were taken while he was standing on the street in his pajamas
Eastman sent the email because Pence, who had previously presided over the Senate, was under guard with Jacob and other councilors in a protected area. Rebels broke into the Capitol complex, some calling for Pence to be executed.
The Jan. 6 committee also revealed that in an email after Jan. 6, Eastman wrote to former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, saying, “I decided I should be on the pardon list if it’s still in the works.” The commission has leaked testimony to other witnesses who indicate that at least five Republicans in Congress have sought pardon from the president in the waning days of his presidency. None of them has been pardoned or charged with a crime.
The uprising on January 6
The House Election Commission, which is investigating the January 6, 2021 uprising, is holding a series of high-profile hearings this month. Find the latest here.
Hearings in Congress: A House of Representatives commission investigating the attack on the US Capitol has conducted more than 1,000 interviews in the past year. He shared his findings in a series of hearings beginning on June 9th. Here’s what we know about hearings and how to watch them.
the riot: On January 6, 2021, a pro-Trump mob stormed the US Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 election results. Five people died that day or immediately thereafter, and 140 police officers were attacked.
Inside the siege: During the riot, the rebels approached dangerously to infiltrate the building’s interior shrines while lawmakers were still there, including former Vice President Mike Pence. The Washington Post researched text messages, photos and videos to create a chronology of the video of what happened on January 6.
Charges: Proud Boys leader Enrique Tario and four lieutenants have been charged with rebellion, joining Oathkeepers leader Stuart Rhodes and about two dozen associates to be accused of involvement in the Capitol attack. They are just some of the hundreds who have been indicted, many of whom received sentences significantly lighter than the government demanded.
Add Comment