“Asserting that legal ethics required him to subvert the constitution is the height of hypocrisy”: professor.
John Eastman, the conservative lawyer who devised a strategy to help maintain former President Donald Trump’s hold on power, doubled down on his false claims of election fraud after being booked at the Fulton County jail on Tuesday.
In a statement issued by his lawyers, Eastman said that his surrender was prompted by an indictment that, in his view, “should never have been brought.”
Eastman told a reporter that there was “no question” in his mind that the 2020 election had been stolen from the former president.
“I am confident that, when the law is faithfully applied in this proceeding, all of my co-defendants and I will be fully vindicated,” Eastman said.
Eastman was indicted last week alongside 18 other other co-conspirators in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ sprawling racketeering investigation. He turned himself in to Georgia authorities on Tuesday on charges linked to his attempts to undermine the integrity of the 2020 election.
“John Eastman is previewing his defense, which appears to be a good faith believe that the election was stolen,” former U.S. Attorney Barb McQuade, a University of Michigan law professor, told Salon. “The prosecution will have the burden of proving either that he knew that statement was false, or that he used means he knew to be illegal to overturn the election results. His public statements can be used against him a trial if he should take an inconsistent position.
