It’s another legal blow for former President Donald Trump.
The Hill reports that a federal judge has just ordered John Eastman, the former president’s legal adviser, to hand over more documents to the House committee that claims to be investigating the events of Jan. 6, 2021.
The decision was handed down on Tuesday. Just the News reports:
In a 26-page ruling, U.S. District Judge David Carter, for the Central District of California, ordered the constitutional law scholar [Eastman] to disclose the documents and a group of separate documents pertaining to meetings held between him and a pro-Trump group with a “high-profile” leader, during which ideas for overturning the results of the 2020 election were discussed.
There are 159 documents in total that have been subpoenaed. Eastman now has until 5 p.m. on Wednesday to turn them over to the House committee.
Background
This is the second time that Eastman has been ordered by the judge to comply with the House committee.
Eastman has argued that the documents requested by the committee are protected chiefly by the attorney-client privilege. But, the judge, a Clinton appointee, has ruled that the crime-fraud exception applies.
The potential crime, according to Judge Carter, was an illegal plot, hatched as early as December 2020, to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Carter writes:
Dr. Eastman’s actions in these few weeks indicate that his and President Trump’s pressure campaign to stop the electoral count did not end with Vice President Pence—it targeted every tier of federal and state elected officials. Convincing state legislatures to certify competing electors was essential to stop the count and ensure President Trump’s reelection.
In related news . . .
This comes as the House committee is about to hold a primetime hearing on Thursday evening. This is only one of several hearings that the committee will hold in the upcoming days.
Fox quotes a committee aide on the purpose of the hearings. “We will be revealing new details showing that the mob on Jan. 6 was the result of a coordinated, multistep effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election and stop the transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden,” the aide said. “Trump was at the center of that effort.”
Fox reports, “the hearing expected to include video of interviews with top Trump officials and potentially family members.” This will follow an opening statement.
The Democrat-led committee is using these hearings to try to shift the narrative ahead of the upcoming midterm elections.
