OC Federal Judge: former President Trump, Chapman professor John Eastman 'more likely than not' conspired to obstruct Congress
Former President Donald Trump "more likely than not" attempted to illegally block Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 election and likely conspired with a former Chapman law professor to do it, a federal judge in Santa Ana ruled Monday.
U.S. District Judge David O. Carter ordered ex-Chapman professor John Eastman to turn over about 100 emails requested by a House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in ruling of more than 40 pages. Ten emails requested by the committee were found to be privileged and will not have to be surrendered.
The emails in question were written between Jan. 4-7 on Eastman's Chapman University email account. Chapman officials were willing to turn over all of the former professor's emails to the House committee, which amounted to about 30,000, but Eastman sued to block the handing over of the emails to the select committee. The House committee said it needed 111 of Eastman's emails as part of their investigation into the Jan. 6 insurrection and the former president's role in it.
In his ruling, Carter says bluntly that there was likely a conspiracy between Trump and Eastman to obstruct Congress. The judge cited meetings in the White House in the days just before the Jan. 6 insurrection that were all aimed at pressuring Pence and his staff to carry out a plan aimed at derailing the congressional certification of the election.
"President Trump attempted to obstruct an official proceeding by launching a pressure campaign to convince Vice President Pence to disrupt the Joint Session on January 6," Carter wrote. The judge also said Eastman, who was acting as a legal adviser for Trump's campaign, and Trump "more likely than not" conspired to obstruct the congressional action to certify the results of the election.
Evidence also shows Eastman "was aware that his plan violated the Electoral County Act," and he "likely acted deceitfully and dishonestly" in pressing a legally suspect plan to stall the certification of the vote, the judge wrote.
Eastman was forced out of Chapman when faculty and students objected to his attendance at a rally before the violent insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and his work on behalf of Trump's campaign to undo the election results in the courts with claims of fraud that were repeatedly rejected. He is also facing a state bar ethics investigation related to his work for Trump.
