John Eastman, a defendant named alongside former President Donald Trump and 17 others in a racketeering indictment in Fulton County, Georgia, has been outspoken about the case.
“This fight is 95 percent political and only 5 percent legal. If I wasn’t out commenting in the press I was not entering the ring where the real battle was. So I’ve been speaking a lot,” he explained on Fox News recently.
Mr. Eastman served as an attorney for President Trump, and helped organize the alternate slate of electors in Georgia in 2020. These actions constituted a “criminal racketeering enterprise,” alleged prosecutor Fani Willis, the district attorney for Fulton County. In addition to violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, the indictment lists 40 more charges total.
“We did nothing wrong, we were challenging an election with more than credible grounds on which to do so and we thought it was important to do that,” Mr. Eastman said. “So I keep speaking the truth wherever I go.”
“There’s nothing that was done wrong here,” he added.
“I think if we get a fair trial in Fulton County, whether that’s in state court or federal court, I’m confident that we’ll be fully vindicated,” Mr. Eastman said. “Not just me, but all defendants.”
At the same time, Mr. Eastman faces risk of disbarment in California, where bar authorities recently said proceedings will continue while he faces trial proceedings in Georgia as well. State bar attorney Duncan Carling, who is leading the case, wrote in a court filing that the Georgia trial may take years, given the scale of the 41-count, 19-defendant case, whereas the disbarment trial would resolve more quickly.
His case began this January, when the State Bar of California accused Mr. Eastman of violating ethics rules in providing legal advice and strategies to President Trump when he challenged the 2020 election results. He was charged with 11 counts including “failure to support the Constitution.” It alleges he was “grossly negligent in not knowing,” else falsely trying to convince Vice President Mike Pence he had the authority to reject electoral votes.
