Capitol Police have issued a subpoena to former President Donald Trump’s counsel, John Eastman, in a legal proceeding pertaining to the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol.
On April 4, during an interview with the conservative network Frank Speech, Mr. Eastman disclosed that he had been served with a subpoena in connection with a civil lawsuit initiated by a collective of Capitol Police officers against President Trump.
This follows a judge’s recommendation late last month that Mr. Eastman be disbarred in California for his advice to then-President Trump regarding his attempts to contest the validity of the 2020 election results.
Next, the California Supreme Court will determine whether Mr. Eastman should have his state law license revoked based on Judge Roland’s recommendation in his opinion.
During the same interview, the attorney also mentioned that “there’s a lot of water to go under the bridge yet” before his case is heard by the state Supreme Court.
“If the law was faithfully followed, this case should have never been brought in the first place,” he said.
The attorney argued the disbarment is political in nature and “aimed at destroying our adversarial system of justice.”
Mr. Eastman is also a part of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s criminal case against President Trump related to the events of Jan. 6. The attorney denounced the prosecution as also being politically motivated, echoing criticism from the former president himself.
“We don’t seem to have any notion of actually pursuing the truth in these criminal matters. It’s all gotchas on your political opponents,” he said during the April 4 interview. “Anything that they think will advance their agenda to get Trump.”
“That’s part of the game,” he continued. “To keep us tied up, spending our resources on defense against these things, then those are resources and talent that can’t be deployed in furthering elections for people who are sensible and want to get our country back on track.”
The recommendation for Mr. Eastman’s disbarment came after a lengthy trial, after which Judge Roland wrote she found that Mr. Eastman knew that the plan he developed to convince then-Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to certify the results “lacked legitimacy.”
Randy Miller, an attorney for Mr. Eastman, issued a statement after the judge’s decision, offering his belief that the Review Court would remedy Judge Roland’s opinion.
He stated that his client’s work to assess the legal issues involved in the 2020 election results was “based on reliable legal precedent, prior presidential elections, research of constitutional text, and extensive scholarly material.”
Additionally, Mr. Miller voiced opposition to Mr. Eastman’s legal license being revoked, considering that he is still facing presumed innocent charges in Georgia, which are also connected to the 2020 elections.
“Any reasonable person can see the inherent unfairness of prohibiting a presumed-innocent defendant from being able to earn the funds needed to pay for the enormous expenses required to defend himself, in the profession in which he has long been licensed,” Mr. Miller said.
“That is not justice and serves no legitimate purpose to protect the public.”
