August 22, 2023 12:51 PM UTC

Colorado's Couptastic Lawyer John Eastman Booked In Georgia

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports, former University of Colorado visiting conservative scholar and current attorney representing the Colorado Republican Party John Eastman reported to Fulton County Jail today for booking on his range of Georgia felony charges related to the strategy allegedly masterminded by Eastman to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election:

Trump campaign attorney John Eastman has been released from the Fulton County Jail after being booked and spending a couple of hours inside…

Eastman was granted a $100,000 bond on Monday. He testified remotely before Georgia lawmakers alongside co-defendant Rudy Giuliani in late 2020, contending there was evidence of widespread fraud in Georgia’s 2020 election and was also involved in pressuring Vice President Mike Pence into rejecting the official Democratic electors in Georgia and other swing states in favor of “alternate” Former President Donald Trump electors.

NBC News reports that when popped the big question underlying Eastman and his alleged co-conspirators’ felony indictments, Eastman responded with what we expect to be the boilerplate defense for (almost) all of them from Donald Trump down the lineup–unblinking, unshakeable professed belief in the “Big Lie.”

After reading his written statement outside of the Fulton County Jail, Eastman took questions, despite his attorney attempting to steer him away from the press several times.

Asked by NBC News if he still believes the 2020 election was stolen, Eastman said: “Absolutely, no question in my mind.” [Pols emphasis]

With the possible exception of Colorado attorney Jenna Ellis who has already formally disavowed the “Big Lie” that the 2020 presidential election was stolen in order to keep her license to practice law, the indefatigable conviction that the 2020 presidential election was stolen is now critical to Trump’s legal defense, rebutting the important factor that Trump knew he had lost and continued to press his unlawful strategy to remain in power anyway. This defense is contradicted by evidence that Trump knew very well that he had lost and admitted as much privately on a number of occasions. VOA explains:

While the state and federal cases are different in scope, they both alleged election fraud and require that prosecutors prove “mens rea” or criminal intent on the part of Trump, according to legal experts.

“In both jurisdictions, general principles of criminal law in the U.S. probably are quite relevant,” said Morgan Cloud, a professor of law at Emory University in Atlanta. “Not all, but most crimes, including felonies like the ones charged in these current federal and state indictments… require proof of… mens rea.”

Trump has long claimed that he lost the 2020 election fraudulently, despite no evidence of that assertion, and his lawyers are now challenging prosecutors to disprove his sincerity. [Pols emphasis]

It won’t just be Trump’s “sincerity” in believing what a majority of Americans knew was false in December of 2020 on trial in Georgia, but also that of Eastman, Ellis, Rudy Giuliani, and the rest of the co-conspirators. Did any of them realize that Trump had lost the election? For most of us, of course, the lawful process of certifying an election result answers the question–like it did for Rep. Ken Buck. The absence of any evidence to support the claim that the election was stolen after almost three years should answer the question even for those who had their initial doubts.

With the exception of Ellis who can’t take back the admissions she made about the 2020 election in her censure agreement, these defendants will be forced to rely on their unflinching belief in Trump’s baseless claims of a stolen election to beat the rap for their criminal actions. That’s especially true if they ever hope to see Trump help out with their legal defense costs, which Ellis has already kissed goodbye.

We keep hearing about Republicans who say they want to “move on” from 2020, particularly from supporters of Trump’s single-digit primary opponents. With the “Big Lie” now a key factor in keeping Team Trump out of jail, that’s less likely than ever. What’s more, Eastman’s continued representation of the Colorado Republican Party under Dave “Let’s Go Brandon” Williams means Eastman will stay in local news headlines as his disbarment and now criminal cases grind on.

There is no “moving on.” The polls all say this is what Republicans want.