Threats to our Democracy on Halloween
Conservative attorney John Eastman developed a plan for Vice President Pence to overturn the results of the Presidential election on January 6 in conjunction with the Trump rally and the insurrection at the Capitol that followed it. https://newrepublic.com/article/163764/john-eastman-coup-memo-pence He spoke at the Trump rally that preceded the Capitol takeover urging Pence to take action to unseat the electors chosen by their state’s voters. https://lawandcrime.com/u-s-capitol-siege/now-retired-law-professor-john-eastman-says-his-words-at-trumps-save-america-rally-did-not-incite-u-s-capitol-siege/ His plan was for Vice President Pence to overturn Trump’s losses in all the swing states and then throw the election into the House of Representatives where each state would have one vote and Republicans would control 27 state delegations. See https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/21/politics/read-eastman-full-memo-pence-overturn-election/index.html and https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/09/23/eastman-memo-jan-6-trump/ Trump pressed Pence to implement the Eastman plans, as did the Capitol insurrectionists who threatened to hang him if he did not disallow the votes from the swing states that Trump had lost. Even in the midst of the insurrection on January 6, Eastman was sending emails to Pence’s chief counsel, blaming Pence for causing the riot and exhorting him to overturn the state election results so that Trump would win. https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/30/politics/mike-pence-january-6-john-eastman-trump/index.html
Earlier Eastman sought to intervene in the Texas v. Pennsylvania et al litigation in the US Supreme Court asking the Court to invalidate Trump’s electoral defeats in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, and Wisconsin – a case where the nine justices unanimously held there was no standing. Prior to that he argued that Vice President Harris, born in Oakland CA, was not a natural born citizen because her parents were immigrants who at the time of her birth had not become naturalized US citizens – a thoroughly debunked and factually inaccurate new birther theory. https://www.cato.org/blog/john-eastman-birthright-citizenship-kamala-harris-mexican-repatriation-citizenship-children
What has Professor Eastman been up to since January 6? He resigned under pressure from his tenured professorship on the faculty at Chapman University Law School. https://www.ocregister.com/2021/01/13/controversial-law-professor-john-eastman-retires-from-chapman-university/ He was then hired by the Claremont Institute. https://newrepublic.com/article/163981/claremont-john-eastman-coup-memo He is now the subject of a bar complaint by States United Democracy Center about his efforts to overthrow the results of the Presidential election. https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/article255275491.html He sought to disavow his memo and advice to President Trump and Vice President Pence on overthrowing the election, saying that he had orally advised Vice President Pence not to pursue the paths he had outlined in his memo, saying they were bunk. https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/10/john-eastman-vs-the-eastman-memo/ Then speaking to “supporters”, he said his plan was legally sound, and it would have worked to assure Trump’s victory but for Pence being an establishment GOP insider. https://www.salon.com/2021/10/27/video-former-lawyer-says-his-coup-plan-would-have-worked-if-it-wasnt-for-mike-pence/ After that, he opined that the January 6 insurrection had been set up by the FBI and big media “to entrap our guys”. https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/eastman-spins-wild-tales-of-jan-6-as-a-trap-sprung-by-media-and-fbi