Former Trump Lawyer Pleads Not Guilty in Arizona 2020 Election Subversion Case
WASHINGTON, D.C. — After a difficult few months between having his California and Washington, D.C. law license temporarily suspended and a new Arizona indictment, “Big Lie” purveyor and Jan. 6 architect John Eastman has pleaded not guilty for crimes related to attempting to overturn the 2020 election.
The former Trump lawyer and peddler of the defunct independent state legislature theory explained after his short hearing, “I, of course, plead not guilty.” This plea comes just a few months after he pleaded not guilty in an election subversion case in Georgia where he was indicted on racketeering, conspiracy and other charges.
Eastman, who is one of 18 indicted by an Arizona grand jury last month for their alleged scheme to overturn the 2020 election results, is the first defendant to enter a plea.
Arizona is charging 18 individuals with felonies for their involvement with Arizona’s 2020 fake electors scheme. The indictment alleges that a slate of Republicans engaged in a conspiracy with the goal of preventing the transfer of power and keeping former President Donald Trump in office “against the will of Arizona voters.”
The 11 named defendants include Republicans who falsely claimed to be electors for the 2020 presidential and vice presidential contest, such as former Arizona GOP Chairwoman Kelli Ward, state Sens. Jake Hoffman and Anthony Kern and RNC Committeeman Tyler Bower.
It was later revealed that Eastman and other Trump allies — Rudy Guilliani, Mark Meadows, Boris Epshteyn, Mike Roman, Jenna Ellis and Christina Bobb — were also indicted. Trump himself is not charged, but he is described as “unindicted coconspirator 1.” According to reporting, Arizona officials have not been able to locate Guilliani to serve him.
The indictment includes nine felony counts for conspiracy, fraudulent schemes and artifices, fraudulent schemes and practices and forgery.
In the aftermath of the 2020 general election, as the indictment details, the defendants raised false claims of fraud, filed numerous lawsuits, pressured election officials and ultimately falsely claimed to be Arizona electors for president and vice president.
The filing describes the “Fake Electors Scheme” beginning as early as Nov. 4, 2020, the day after the election, with a series of texts and memos that suggested Republicans could send their own slate of electors for certification on Jan. 6, 2021.
In December 2020, a redacted defendant — presumably Eastman — wrote a memo detailing a scenario for Jan. 6, 2021 where he recommended that Pence not certify the state’s Democratic electors. From there, the scheme developed: “The Arizona Republican electors met on December 14, 2020, at the Arizona Republican Party Headquarters, posting a picture to twitter.com,” the indictment reads.
The group of fake electors “voted” for Trump and Pence on Dec. 14, 2020. The electors did not withdraw their votes even after legal challenges failed to change the outcome of Arizona’s 2020 presidential election.
According to the indictment, the defendants and unindicted co conspirators “deceived the public with false claims of election fraud in order to prevent the lawful transfer of the presidency, to keep Unindicted Coconspirator 1 in office against the will of Arizona’s voters, and deprive Arizona voters of their right to vote and have their votes counted.”
As Eastman is fighting criminal prosecution in court, he is also fighting and flailing to keep his law license. In March, a California judge ruled he should be disbarred. At the beginning of May, the disgraced lawyer’s bar license was temporarily suspended in Washington, D.C.