Suspended attorney John Eastman, the former Chapman University law school dean and counsel to former President Donald Trump, said Thursday he is not dispirited by a recommendation from the California State Bar that he be disbarred and is seeking permission to keep working as an attorney while he appeals the ruling.
“An old professor of mine told me if you’re not catching flack, you’re not over the target,” Eastman told City News Service. “People coming after me as hard as they are indicates we’re over the target.”
Eastman is one of the alleged architects of the fake electors plot, a scheme designed to obstruct the transition of presidential power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden on Jan. 6, 2021. As Bar attorney Duncan Carling put it: “Eastman pressed then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject slates of electors in seven states or send them back to the state legislatures for continued investigation of debunked fraud claims.
“That move would violate the Electoral Count Act, which has been in place for more than a century,” Carling said.
On Wednesday, Eastman and his attorneys filed a motion to suspend his inactive status while he appeals a recommendation from the bar that he lose his license to practice law in California. That motion features declarations from Reps. Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene, who hired Eastman to represent them in First Amendment claims stemming from the cancellation of their planned speaking engagements in the city of Riverside and in Anaheim.
“We recognize what this fight is all about,” Eastman said. “It’s a concerted effort to get anyone who supports Trump.”
He added, “I’m not stressed at all. I’m working double-time to get our country back on track for the rule of law.”
Eastman characterized his defense in the state Bar trial as “awesome.”
Eastman has until April 26 to file his appeal with the state Supreme Court, he said.
Eastman noted that he still retains his bar card in Washington, D.C., so there’s nothing precluding him from practicing law in the federal courts though he is on inactive status in California. He may also still provide legal advice and strategy for his clients, but he cannot file motions or make court appearances.
Eastman also faces the possibility of being disbarred in the nation’s Capitol as well. The D.C. Bar could just go along with the California ruling if it is upheld by the state Supreme Court here, or it could hold its own trial, Eastman said.
It is unclear when or if the California Bar would take up Eastman’s request for a delay in imposition of his inactive status during his appeal, he said.
In his declaration in the motion, Eastman, who currently lives in New Mexico, said he has “incurred more than $1 million in legal fees and expenses to date,” and estimates that “the total that I will incur before these various matters have concluded will be as much as $3 million to $3.5 million.”
Eastman is battling charges in Georgia, where he was indicted along with Trump and multiple other defendants in an election fraud case. Eastman said one of his primary sources of income since 2021 has come as a partner with the Constitutional Counsel Group law firm.
Despite the recommendation that he lose his law license in California, Eastman said his clients wished to keep him as their attorney. He said he has pending cases in federal courts in California, Colorado and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Gaetz said in a letter in the motion that he has retained Eastman since July 2021 and, “I stand behind him.”
The congressman from Florida argued that the state Bar’s attempt to revoke his attorney’s license is a “coordinated and politically motivated attempt to de-platform Dr. Eastman and to limit the universe of attorneys available to individuals of our shared political and legal views.”
Eastman’s attorney, Randall Miller, argued in the motion that his continued work as an attorney “does not pose a substantial threat of harm to his clients or the public. The complaint that gave rise to the state Bar’s investigation and filing of the Notice of Disciplinary Charges was not initiated by any of Dr. Eastman’s clients, and none of his clients have even asserted, much less demonstrated any potential harm from Dr. Eastman’s continued practice of law.
“Quite the opposite. Each of his existing clients have submitted sworn declarations indicating their strong desire to have Dr. Eastman continue as counsel for them in their pending matters because of his expertise on the constitutional questions and other matters at issue in their cases, despite this order.”
Miller added that Eastman’s “conduct does not pose any threat of harm to the public because the conduct at issue arose from a role he no longer occupies — as counsel to former President Trump in challenges to an election that has long since passed.”
The hearing judge in Eastman’s disbarment trial, Yvette D. Roland, noted Eastman’s refusal to accept the nature of the allegations against him that he worked with Trump to obstruct the certification of President Joe Biden’s election and continued misinforming the public with disproven fraud claims.
`Eastman has exhibited an unwillingness to acknowledge any ethical lapses regarding his actions, demonstrating an apparent inability to accept responsibility,” Roland said. “This lack of remorse and accountability presents a significant risk that Eastman may engage in further unethical conduct, compounding the threat to the public.”