The House select committee probing last year’s January 6 Capitol attack claimed to have evidence that former President Donald Trump and his lawyer John Eastman participated in acts of “criminal conspiracy” in their quest to overturn the election results.
The release of findings was filed Wednesday night, as the committee attempted to persuade a judge to allow the panel to obtain emails from Eastman from around the time of the Capitol riot. Eastman claimed attorney-client privilege, but the House responded that attorney-client privilege does not cover conversations in which legal advice is given with the intent to commit a crime.
The attorney played a role in the plan to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to certify Biden’s win, as was laid out in two memos with Eastman’s name on them.
“The conspirators obstructed a lawful governmental function by pressuring the Vice President to violate his duty to count the electoral certificates presented from certain States. As an alternative, they urged the Vice President to delay the count to allow state legislatures to convene and select alternate electors,” they wrote.
“The apparent objective of these efforts was to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and declare Donald Trump the winner. In this way, the conspiracy aimed to obstruct and interfere with the proper functioning of the United States government,” the House added.
The 61-page filing detailed the scheme with testimonies from high-ranking Trump officials on their refusal to do what the ex-President asked them to do.
“He wanted us to say that it was corrupt,” said former deputy attorney general Richard Donoghue.
“And this was consistent with some things he said at other points. The Department should publicly say that the election is corrupt or suspect or not reliable. At one point, he mentioned the possibility of having a press conference. We told him we were not going to do that,” he continued, according to the House’s filing.
The filing provided the most information on the committee’s findings so far.
