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January 6 Congressional Investigations

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Judge rules against Trump lawyer John Eastman in dispute with Jan. 6 investigators​

A federal judge on Wednesday handed an incremental victory to the congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection in a case involving California attorney John Eastman.

Eastman, who advised former President Trump on efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, has been fighting to prevent the committee from seeing more than 100 emails involving him.

The judge ruled against Eastman for now, saying the court would review the documents to determine which can be turned over to the panel.

Eastman has emerged as a central figure in the committee's investigation into Trump's efforts to subvert the election results.

 
We will never see public hearings if this keeps up. After the midterms this committee will be shut down
mad.gif
Would have loved to be a fly on the wall with meeting with McDaniel

RNC is suing Jan. 6 select committee over subpoena to key vendor

The Republican National Committee is suing the Jan. 6 select committee after investigators sought fundraising information from Salesforce, a major RNC vendor.

Quote:
The select committee subpoenaed Salesforce on Feb. 23, according to the RNC's court filing, for information about the party's fundraising, including “non-public information on Republican donors, volunteers, and supporters and the internal deliberative processes of the RNC." The company was due to provide the documents to the committee by Wednesday, and it's unclear whether they complied. While telecommunications companies like Verizon and T-Mobile typically refuse to comply with subpoenas if a subscriber is suing, it's unclear if Salesforce abides by a similar policy.

The subpoena also requires a company official to interview with the committee by March 16. A spokesperson for the company was not immediately available for comment.

Separately, RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel met with staff of the select committee on Wednesday, a source familiar with the meeting told POLITICO, though it’s not clear whether McDaniel testified or if this was just an initial contact with investigators.

 
Trump lawyer knew plan to delay Biden certification was unlawful, emails show

John Eastman conceded that scheme represented violation of Electoral Count Act but urged Mike Pence to go ahead anyway

Quote:
Interrupting the certification of Joe Biden’s election win on 6 January last year as part of the scheme to return Donald Trump to office was known to be unlawful by at least one of the former president’s lawyers, according to an email exchange about the potential conspiracy.

The former Trump lawyer John Eastman – who helped coordinate the scheme from the Trump “war room” at the Willard hotel in Washington – conceded in an email to counsel for then vice-president Mike Pence, Greg Jacob, that the plan was a violation of the Electoral Count Act.

But Eastman then urged Pence to move ahead with the scheme anyway, pressuring the former vice-president’s counsel to consider supporting the effort on the basis that it was only a “minor violation” of the statute that governed the certification procedure.

The admission that the scheme was unlawful undercuts arguments by Eastman and the Willard war room team that they believed there was no wrongdoing in seeking to have Pence delay the certification past 6 January – one of the strategies they sought to return Trump to power.



 
Stephen Miller sues to block January 6 committee's subpoena for his phone records

Quote:
Former White House senior adviser Stephen Miller filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking to block a subpoena for his phone records from the House Select Committee investigating January 6, becoming the latest among dozens of people who have gone to court to protect their information from Capitol Hill investigators.

The committee has sought testimony from Miller as well, saying that he spread misinformation around the presidential election and pushed officials to change the results of the election.


According to the lawsuit seeking to block the phone records subpoena, Miller is on a T-Mobile family plan with his parents. While the committee is only seeking records related to Stephen Miller’s phone number, the suit says, Miller is concerned that T-Mobile “may respond to the Subpoena by producing data for other numbers assigned to the Family Plan Account.”

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/09/poli...records-subpoena-lawsuit-january-6/index.html
 
Jan. 6 committee subpoenas former Trump lawyers, drafters of bogus executive orders
The inquest is turned now on the plot to have bogus electors manipulate the 2020 election results for Donald Trump and delay certification of his defeat.

Snipped

Quote:
The House panel investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection and efforts by former President Trump to halt the legal certification of the 2020 election results issued six subpoenas Tuesday, calling for testimony from members of Trump's legal team and individuals who disseminated his unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud.

The panel is calling for Cleta Mitchell, Kenneth Chesebro, Christina Bobb, Katherine Friess, Kurt Olsen and Phill Kline to testify before the committee and comply with its investigation.
Quote:
One of the subpoenas targets Mitchell, a conservative attorney whom former Trump lawyer John Eastman said recruited him to join the team aimed at overturning the election. Eastman told a federal court in California last week that Trump had directed Mitchell to create the legal strategy group in August 2020.

The committee says Mitchell promoted false claims of election fraud to members of Congress and was part of the call in which Trump urged the Georgia secretary of state to "find" enough votes that would reverse his loss in the state. The panel also claims Mitchell was in contact with Trump on Jan. 6 and in the days leading up to the attack.
Quote:
Chesebro was the lead attorney for the Trump campaign in Wisconsin during the 2020 election. The panel is demanding testimony and information from Chesebro, who actively promoted legal theories within the Trump campaign supporting the use of a fraudulent slate of GOP-backed electors in the states won by President Joe Biden.

The committee says Chesebro disseminated disinformation and told Trump these efforts would "'bolster[]' the argument for delaying the electoral certification and make the public 'believe[e] that the election in [Wisconsin] was likely rigged, and stolen by Biden and Harris, who were not legitimately elected,'" according to a letter the committee sent to Chesebro.
Quote:
Bobb, a lawyer and host for right-wing media outlet One America News Network, and Friess, another lawyer, reportedly helped draft an executive order for Trump that would have directed the federal seizure of voting machines in several states to search for voter fraud. The committee says Friess at one point traveled to Michigan in an attempt to get voting data from Michigan election officials.

According to the committee, Bobb was in the Willard Hotel with Rudy Giuliani's legal team on Jan. 6.
Quote:
The round of subpoenas also targets Olsen, a private attorney who contacted officials at the Department of Justice in the days leading up to Jan. 6, urging the department to mount another legal challenge to the election. Olsen allegedly drafted an executive order for Trump that would have directed the department to "take voter action," and had multiple private telephone calls with Trump on Jan. 6.
Quote:
Kline, the final subject of the panel's latest inquest, is the former attorney general of Kansas and current director of the Amistad Project— a group that promoted the slate of fraudulent pro-Trump electors and even tried to deliver to the Michigan Legislature a group of fake electors whom state troopers ultimately rebuffed.

Per the committee, Kline organized a strategy meeting about purported election fraud between Trump and more than 300 state legislators and urged the lawmakers to sign a letter directing Vice President Mike Pence to delay the certification of Biden's victory.

 
The Select Committee is investigating the violent attack on our Capitol on January 6, 2021, and an effort by the former President of the United States to remain in office by obstructing Congress’ count of the electoral votes. Plaintiff John Eastman purports to have been the former President’s lawyer in connection with that effort. But Plaintiff’s role was not simply as an advisor; he spoke at the rally on the morning of January 6, spreading proven falsehoods to the tens of thousands of people attending that rally, and appears to have a broader role in many of the specific issues the Select Committee is investigating. The Select Committee requires a detailed understanding of all of Plaintiff’s activities in order to inform Congress’ legislative judgments and to help ensure that no President can threaten the peaceful transition of power ever again.

Lots of detail in the brief


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Trump violated federal laws in bid to overturn election, Capitol attack panel claims

The House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack said in a major filing on Wednesday that it believed that Donald Trump violated multiple federal laws to overturn the 2020 election, including obstructing Congress and defrauding the United States.

The revelations came as part of a filing that intended to force John Eastman, Trump’s former lawyer, to turn over thousands of emails and records since his participation in potential crimes destroyed his arguments for attorney-client privilege protections.

House counsel Douglas Letter said in the 61-page filing that the select committee had a basis for concluding Trump violated the law by obstructing or attempting to obstruct an official proceeding and defrauded the United States by interfering with lawful government functions.

The former president knew he had not won enough electoral college votes to win the 2020 election, yet nevertheless sought thenvice-president Mike Pence to manipulate the results in his favor, the filing said about Trump’s obstruction.

 
Exhibit B, INTERVIEW OF: RICHARD PETER DONOGHUE, is pretty interesting. Starts on page 123.

On the meeting discussing Trump's attempt to replace Rozen with Clark:

Quote:
And so the President said, "Well,suppose I do this" -- I was sitting directly in front
3 of the President. Jeff Rosen was to my right; Jeff Clark was to my left. The President
4 said, "Suppose I do this,suppose I replace him," Jeff Rosen, "with him," Jeff Clark, "what
5 do you do?" And I said, "Sir, I would resign immediately. There is no way I'm serving
6 1 minute under this guy," Jeff Clark.
7 And then the President turned to Steve Engel, and he said, "Steve, you wouldn't
8 resign, would you?" And Steve said, "Absolutely I would, Mr. President. You'd leave
9 me no choice."
10 And I said, "And we're not the only ones. You should understand that your
11 entire Department leadership will resign. Every AAG will resign." I didn't tell him
12 about the call or anything, but I made it clear that I knew what they were going to do.
13 And I said, "Mr. President, these aren't bureaucratic leftovers from another
14 administration. You picked them. This is your leadership team. You sent every one
15 of them to the Senate; you got them confirmed. What is that going to say about you,
16 when we all walk out at the same time? And I don't even know what that's going to do
17 to the U.S. attorney community. You could have mass resignations amongst your
18 U.S. attorneys. And then it will trickle down from there; you could have resignations
19 across the Department. And what happensif, within 48 hours, we have hundreds of
20 resignations from your Justice Department because of your actions? What doesthat say
21 about your leadership?"
22 So we had that part of the conversation. Steve Engel, I remember,made the
23 point that Jeff Clark would be leading what he called a graveyard;there would be no one
24 left. How is he going to do anything if there's no leadership really left to carry out any of these ideas?
Quote:
I made the point that Jeff Clark is not even competent to serve as the Attorney
2 General. He's never been a criminal attorney. He's never conducted a criminal
3 investigation in his life. He's never been in front of a grand jury, much less a trial jury.
4 And he kind of retorted by saying, "Well, I've done a lot of very complicated
5 appeals and civil litigation, environmental litigation, and things like that." And I said,
6 "That's right. You're an environmental lawyer. How about you go back to your office,
7 and we'll call you when there's an oil spill."
8 And so it got very confrontational at points.
9 And Pat Cipollone weighed in at one point, I remember,saying, you know, "That
10 letter that this guy wants to send, that letter is a murder-suicide pact. It's going to
11 damage everyone who touches it. And we should have nothing to do with that letter.
12 I don't ever want to see that letter again." And so we went along those lines.
13 I remember Eric Herschmann chimed in several times, saying that, whatever Jeff
14 Clark wanted to do or thought he could do, there was no reason to think he could really
15 do it.
16 I remember saying at some point that, you know, Jeff wouldn't even know how to
17 find his way to Chris Wray's office, much less march in there and direct the FBI what to
18 do, and that, if you walked into Chris Wray's office, he wouldn't even know who you are.
19 So we had these conversationsthat went around and around and were very blunt
20 and direct. And that went on for 2-1/2 hours.

 
'The Evidence Is Piling Up' Against Trump And Campaign

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol argued in a new court filing that former President Donald Trump and members of his campaign were part of a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results. Attorney George Conway discusses.

 
The single most damning email exchange in the new January 6 committee filing

Quote:
Buried in a court filing late Wednesday from the January 6 committee is an explosive email exchange between Greg Jacob, a top lawyer for then-Vice President Mike Pence, and John Eastman, a lawyer who was working with then-President Donald Trump's legal team, that absolutely nails the culpability of Eastman in the events of that terrible day.
Quote:
In his next response, Jacob drops the hammer: "The advice provided has, whether intended or not, functioned as a serpent in the ear of the President of the United States, the most powerful office in the entire world. And here we are."

Jacob went on:

"Respectfully, it was gravely, gravely irresponsible for you to entice the President with an academic theory that had no legal viability, and that you well know we would lose before any judge who heard and decided the case. And if the courts declined to hear it, I suppose it could only be decided in the streets. The knowing amplification of that theory through numerous surrogates, whipping large numbers of people into a frenzy over something with no chance of ever attaining legal force through actual process of law, has led us to where we are."

Yes, that's it exactly.

Eastman's infamous memo -- in which he outlined how Pence could overturn the Electoral College results -- was, as Jacob rightly noted, the stuff of debate in a law school class, maybe, but certainly not the framework on which an election should be decided.

And Jacob nails the role the memo -- and Eastman more generally -- played in the run-up to January 6. He handed a drowning man a rope. Trump, in the days and weeks after the election, was desperate to find something, anything that would allow him to make the case that a) he hadn't really lost and b) he could stay on as president.

 

Caught On Tape: Trump Ally Roger Stone Bolts 'Insurrection Headquarters' On Jan. 6​

 
'Coup Memo' Lawyer Loses Bid To Hold Up Records He Warns Could Convict Trump

Excerpts:
Quote:
The right-wing attorney who authored “coup memos” for Donald Trump and supporters on how to scuttle the presidential election lost a court battle Friday to hold back his documents from the House select committee investigating last year’s Jan. 6 insurrection.

Lawyer John Eastman claimed the situation had turned him into a “pseudo-defense attorney for the former president” — so the emails are thereby protected by attorney-client privilege.
Quote:
Eastman warned in his civil suit that granting the committee access to his emails involving the former president could amount to a historic legal finding that Trump may have committed a crime while he was a sitting president.

“Were this Court to sustain the defendants’ claims, it may be the first formal finding of Presidential criminality by a federal court in United States history,” Eastman wrote in his suit seeking to hold up access to his records.
Quote:
The committee argued Wednesday that Eastman’s records are indeed likely to show evidence of multiple crimes committed by both him and Trump, which would thereby trigger the “crime-fraud exception” to attorney-client privilege.

The explosive filing alleged that Trump and key allies conspired to defraud the U.S. and obstruct an official congressional proceeding: the certification of electoral votes.

Eastman also argued Friday that just as in a criminal trial, the committee should be required to turn over any exculpatory evidence it has — which could prove innocence — before he can cooperate.
Quote:
U.S. District Court of Central California Judge David Carter dismissed Eastman’s objections late Friday.

Carter noted that battles over attorney-client privilege in a civil lawsuit — even when they involve criminal allegations — don’t merit protections for criminal defendants because there’s currently no risk of jail time.

Eastman’s records could be critical in the committee’s investigation. He devised a strategy to throw out election results, and discussed it in the Oval Office. He also fired off haranguing emails to Greg Jacob, counsel at the time for then-Vice President Mike Pence, over electoral votes as the men hid during the Jan. 6 insurrection from Trump supporters stormed through the Capitol.

 
Justice Department 'ought to be investigating' Trump's actions after the 2020 election

Days after the House committee to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol said there was evidence that Donald Trump committed crimes in trying to overturn the presidential election that he lost, Rep. Adam Schiff urged action from the Justice Department.

Speaking on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday morning, Schiff said: “We believe there's a good-faith basis to conclude that the former president and his campaign may have violated any number of federal laws,” adding: “I do think the Justice Department ought to be looking at these issues and ought to be investigating.”

The California Democrat is a member of the Jan. 6 committee, which on Wednesday released and filed its findings in federal court. The committee’s body of evidence included testimony and documents that it said shows that Trump misled the public and pushed advisers to try to overturn the election.

On Sunday, Schiff referenced a “graphic example” in which the former president spoke on the phone with Georgia’s secretary of state after the election, urging him to find the exact number of ballots Trump needed to take the victory from Joe Biden. The Republican state official, Brad Raffensperger, resisted Trump’s efforts, and later said he felt the then-president’s words were a threat to him.

 
Of course the Trumplicans will :rolleyes:

Republicans warn Justice Department probe of Trump would trigger political war

Republican lawmakers are warning that any Department of Justice prosecution of former President Trump will turn into a political battle, setting a high bar for Attorney General Merrick Garland to act on an expected criminal referral from the House’s Jan. 6 committee.

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol previewed its likely referral to the Justice Department in a court filing made public last week and experts say the evidence assembled by House investigators would provide a strong impetus for prosecutors to act.

But Republican lawmakers and strategists warn that any federal prosecution of Trump will be accused of being politically motivated, boost Trump within the GOP and turn into a partisan food fight at a time when President Biden is pivoting to the center and trying to keep his 2020 campaign promise to unify the country.


Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) said any criminal referral from the House “would probably have as much political taint on it as you can get.”

“To me it’s clearly politically driven,” he said.

Braun said Democrats are scrambling to change up the political narrative in response to Biden’s moribund job approval ratings and predicted launching a federal prosecution of Trump would be viewed along partisan lines.

“At least half the country would say it’s all politically motivated,” he said.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said “the Department of Justice has a high bar” to clear before launching an investigation of Trump and raised concerns over the partisan fighting that surrounded the formation of the Jan. 6 committee.
Quote:
Republican strategists close to Trump are predicting a battle royale if the Department of Justice moves to indict the former president."

“I think it could backfire in a way that they have no clue,” said Republican pollster Jim McLaughlin. “I think it’s going to backfire because it just so political and it’s tainted.

“The country wants to move on. Nobody is proud of what happened on Jan. 6 but people are like, ‘With all the problems we have going on in the country right now, this is going to be the focus of the Democrats?’ ”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a close Trump ally and senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told The Hill Thursday any recommendation to prosecute from the House select committee would lack credibility.

“I don’t see anything coming out of this committee not tainted by politics,” he said.

The likelihood of a stirring up a major political storm with a federal investigation of Trump could serve as a powerful disincentive for the Justice Department moving forward if it receives a recommendation to prosecute from the Jan. 6 committee.

 

Judge rules against Trump lawyer John Eastman in dispute with Jan. 6 investigators​

A federal judge on Wednesday handed an incremental victory to the congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection in a case involving California attorney John Eastman.

Eastman, who advised former President Trump on efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, has been fighting to prevent the committee from seeing more than 100 emails involving him.

The judge ruled against Eastman for now, saying the court would review the documents to determine which can be turned over to the panel.

Eastman has emerged as a central figure in the committee's investigation into Trump's efforts to subvert the election results.

Just as I was commenting in another thread about all these morons losing their suits, they lose another one. This guy is high up on the coup list. He's already lost his job as a lawyer, being investigated by the CA bar, and has now lost in court.

Only the best people.
 
Not unexpected.
https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^1502031001467424770|twgr^|twcon^s1_&ref_url=http://justicequest.net/forums/showthread.php?t=103702page=28
Scott MacFarlane
@MacFarlaneNews

Flynn attorney: “General Michael Flynn appeared before the January 6th Committee today in compliance with their subpoena and, on advice of counsel, exercised his 5th amendment right to decline to answer the Committee’s questions….” Via @elliskkim
4:17 PM · Mar 10, 2022
 
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