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This is attorney Seth Abramson's take on Ginni and Clarence Thomas, and their role in the insurrection, and the impending constitutional crisis that's already in the hopper.
It is very long and likely in several parts due to the 5000 character limit on the forum.
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With a federal judge now finding that Trump likely committed federal felonies related to January 6, America is now on a collision course with a constitutional crisis. This isn’t hype—it’s legal fact. As an attorney, I explain in this thread.
Below is the news that set America on a path to crisis. It arose in the context of congressional attempts to secure emails from one of Trump’s pre-1/6 lawyers, John Eastman.
Eastman has asserted his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.
Eastman, with Trump adviser Peter Navarro—who’ll be referred to DOJ by Congress for criminal prosecution sometime this week or next—was one of the authors of the January 6 coup plot. But there were others—and their identities are what have now launched a constitutional crisis.
Given that Eastman is claiming the emails the judge ordered turned over to Congress are privileged attorney-client work-product, and given that—*after reviewing them*—the judge says they likely establish that Eastman *and Trump* committed crimes, this ruling will be appealed.
As much as any case that’s ever come under federal jurisdiction, the Supreme Court of the United States will want to weigh in on whether the legislative branch of our government can get supposedly privileged emails involving the head of the executive branch of our government.
John Eastman is not just a former clerk of current Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, he has been a good friend of Justice Thomas and his wife (far-right activist Ginni Thomas) for decades. But the Eastman-Thomas connections relevant here go well beyond this—*well* beyond.
As discussed at length, with full sourcing, in the article below—which has just been made free to the public ()—Ginni Thomas appears to have been both (a) instrumental in the formation of Trump’s legal team, *and* (b) instrumental in forming its plot.
In the latter half of Trump’s presidency, Ginni Thomas became a top Trump adviser, with the *particular* task of helping Trump staff his operations with loyalists. When Trump’s legal team began to coalesce in mid-2020, it began with one of Thomas’s best friends and associates.
Cleta Mitchell, the Ginni Thomas friend and associate who helped launch Trump’s pre-election legal team in expectation of post-election legal challenges, would end up on the infamous call between Trump and Georgia SoS Brad Raffensperger that’s now under criminal investigation.
It was through Mitchell—and apparently Thomas—that Eastman was recruited to assist Trump in a course of legal representation that a federal judge now says was likely criminal on both Eastman’s part *and* Trump’s. Ginni Thomas had a *particular* reason to want Eastman involved.
Ginni Thomas was, during Trump’s presidency, in regular indirect and direct contact with John Eastman through Thomas Clerk World, a private listserv that is *exclusively* used by former Thomas judicial clerks and (for reasons that are unclear) far-right activist Ginni Thomas.
Even Clarence Thomas doesn’t use Thomas Clerk World—though his wife aggressively does—presumably because the discussions there sometimes include debates over issues that will come before SCOTUS, as happened *repeatedly* in the fall of 2020 and immediately after the election.
Ginni Thomas and Eastman both acknowledge that debates over Trump’s legal strategy occurred on the listserv, and they both participated in such debates. We know that as this was ongoing, Ginni Thomas was a) preaching insurrection and b) in contact with Trump’s chief of staff.
Ginni Thomas has long had a close relationship with Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows—even using one of the orgs she leads to give him a very public award—just as she’s had a close relationship with Eastman.
Both Eastman and Meadows are now hiding their emails from Congress.
UPDATE: Judge says Eastman MUST provide emails!
It is very long and likely in several parts due to the 5000 character limit on the forum.
*************
With a federal judge now finding that Trump likely committed federal felonies related to January 6, America is now on a collision course with a constitutional crisis. This isn’t hype—it’s legal fact. As an attorney, I explain in this thread.
Below is the news that set America on a path to crisis. It arose in the context of congressional attempts to secure emails from one of Trump’s pre-1/6 lawyers, John Eastman.
Eastman has asserted his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.
Judge: 'More likely than not' that Trump 'corruptly attempted' to block Congress from counting votes on January 6
A federal judge said Monday that former President Donald Trump and right-wing attorney John Eastman may have been planning a crime as they sought to disrupt the January 6 congressional certification of the presidential election.
t.co
Eastman, with Trump adviser Peter Navarro—who’ll be referred to DOJ by Congress for criminal prosecution sometime this week or next—was one of the authors of the January 6 coup plot. But there were others—and their identities are what have now launched a constitutional crisis.
Given that Eastman is claiming the emails the judge ordered turned over to Congress are privileged attorney-client work-product, and given that—*after reviewing them*—the judge says they likely establish that Eastman *and Trump* committed crimes, this ruling will be appealed.
As much as any case that’s ever come under federal jurisdiction, the Supreme Court of the United States will want to weigh in on whether the legislative branch of our government can get supposedly privileged emails involving the head of the executive branch of our government.
John Eastman is not just a former clerk of current Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, he has been a good friend of Justice Thomas and his wife (far-right activist Ginni Thomas) for decades. But the Eastman-Thomas connections relevant here go well beyond this—*well* beyond.
As discussed at length, with full sourcing, in the article below—which has just been made free to the public ()—Ginni Thomas appears to have been both (a) instrumental in the formation of Trump’s legal team, *and* (b) instrumental in forming its plot.
In the latter half of Trump’s presidency, Ginni Thomas became a top Trump adviser, with the *particular* task of helping Trump staff his operations with loyalists. When Trump’s legal team began to coalesce in mid-2020, it began with one of Thomas’s best friends and associates.
Cleta Mitchell, the Ginni Thomas friend and associate who helped launch Trump’s pre-election legal team in expectation of post-election legal challenges, would end up on the infamous call between Trump and Georgia SoS Brad Raffensperger that’s now under criminal investigation.
It was through Mitchell—and apparently Thomas—that Eastman was recruited to assist Trump in a course of legal representation that a federal judge now says was likely criminal on both Eastman’s part *and* Trump’s. Ginni Thomas had a *particular* reason to want Eastman involved.
Ginni Thomas was, during Trump’s presidency, in regular indirect and direct contact with John Eastman through Thomas Clerk World, a private listserv that is *exclusively* used by former Thomas judicial clerks and (for reasons that are unclear) far-right activist Ginni Thomas.
Even Clarence Thomas doesn’t use Thomas Clerk World—though his wife aggressively does—presumably because the discussions there sometimes include debates over issues that will come before SCOTUS, as happened *repeatedly* in the fall of 2020 and immediately after the election.
Ginni Thomas and Eastman both acknowledge that debates over Trump’s legal strategy occurred on the listserv, and they both participated in such debates. We know that as this was ongoing, Ginni Thomas was a) preaching insurrection and b) in contact with Trump’s chief of staff.
Ginni Thomas has long had a close relationship with Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows—even using one of the orgs she leads to give him a very public award—just as she’s had a close relationship with Eastman.
Both Eastman and Meadows are now hiding their emails from Congress.
UPDATE: Judge says Eastman MUST provide emails!