Conservative lawyer John Eastman seeks to keep 3,200 documents from January 6 committee

Washington – Conservative lawyer John Eastman seeks to protect more than 3,200 documents for a total of 36,106 pages from the select committee of the House investigating the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol, he revealed Monday in a new court filing, claiming the lawyer-client privilege over records regarding his work for former President Donald Trump and his presidential campaign.

Eastman told U.S. District Judge David Carter in the state report filed as part of his ongoing legal dispute with the House panel that investigators opposed “all claims” of privileges of lawyer-client and protection of the labor product that affirmed in the pages. Carter will now review the disputed documents and decide whether to hand them over to the select committee.

Politico first reported records that Eastman seeks to keep House investigators.

Eastman, a former law professor at Chapman University, was the driving force behind the legal strategy to justify Trump’s attempts to stay in office after losing the 2020 presidential election to President Biden. The effort focused on a plan for Vice President Mike Pence, who chaired the joint January 6 session of Congress, to reject the election votes of key battlefield states won by Mr. Biden. Pence eventually rejected the plan, arguing that he did not have the authority to carry it out.

Eastman used his Chapman email account to communicate efforts to overturn election results, and the House Select Committee issued a summons to the school in January for records related to the presidential contest or the January 6 assault.

But Eastman tried to keep the committee’s emails, arguing that they included information that would be protected under attorney-client privilege and attorney-product privilege. He asked a federal district court to prevent the panel from enforcing his subpoena and prevent Chapman from complying, a request that eventually launched a comprehensive review of the records requested by the House committee.

Carter ruled in March that Eastman had to deliver 101 emails exchanged between January 4, 2021 and January 7, 2021, a shorter stretch of records that involved a key period for House researchers. The judge also held that “it is more likely than not that President Trump will attempt to corruptly obstruct” the proceedings of Congress on January 6.

“Dr. Eastman and President Trump have launched a campaign to overturn a democratic election, an unprecedented move in U.S. history,” he wrote in his 44-page ruling. “His campaign was not limited to the ivory tower, it was a coup in search of a legal theory.”

Eastman’s latest presentation revealing the more than 36,000 pages of emails he wants to retain is part of the more extensive review of his Chapman emails. More than 94,000 pages complied with the terms of the select committee under its citation, although nearly 30,000 were deleted because they were mass submissions, according to the submission.

Eastman produced 25,319 pages of records and another 231 pages in response to the committee’s objections.

According to the court file, Eastman claimed “several privileges” in 40,656 pages involving clients or potential customers, and the panel made no objection to its claims on 3,006 pages. Of the remaining 37,650 pages in question, Carter reviewed 336 pages and required Eastman in his March decision to deliver the 101 papers for a total of 315 pages.

The select committee of the House has opposed Eastman’s claims of privilege over the remaining 3,247 documents with a total of 36,106 pages.