Former Chapman professor John Eastman ordered to hand over more emails to Jan. 6 committee

A federal judge in Santa Ana has ordered former Chapman University law professor John Eastman to hand over more emails in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol riot that will be the subject of a prime-time hearing Thursday.

U.S. District Judge David O. Carter ordered Eastman to turn over 159 documents to the congressional committee at a hearing on Tuesday. Another 440 documents were found by the judge to be privileged and should be kept private.

The judge pointed to one email from December of 2020 as including evidence of a potential crime to keep Congress from certifying the results.

"In an email on Dec. 22, 2020, an attorney with the Trump legal team referred to the 'the Jan. 6 strategy' as a known plan to eight other people. Two days later, Dr. Eastman explained that the worse case for the plan was receiving a court decision that constrained Vice President (Mike) Pence's authority to reject electors. Dr. Eastman and President Trump's plan to stop the count was not only established by early December, it was the ultimate goal that the legal team was working to protect from that point forward," the judge wrote.

In an earlier ruling, Carter said the former president and Eastman "likely committed obstruction of an official proceeding" from Jan. 4-7, 2021. In Tuesday's ruling, Carter said there was evidence that the planning to derail the certification of President Joe Biden's election victory started "as early as Dec. 7, 2020."

Eastman tried to block the House from accessing his emails by claiming confidential attorney-client communications, but the judge has repeatedly shot down that motion. 

The committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol will hold its first public hearing at 5 p.m. local time Thursday and will air on CBS.