The documentary says that lawyers who defended Trump and other conservative figures after the 2020 election have been unfairly targeted and canceled.
PALM BEACH, Fla.—On the sunny yet slightly cool afternoon of Jan. 4, guests began to arrive at President-elect Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach for an exclusive event.
The occasion was a private screening of a documentary featuring attorney John Eastman, whose name in recent years gained national attention due to his role advising Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign and his stance on the election’s integrity.
The new film “The Eastman Dilemma: Lawfare or Justice” conveys a message that, while the November election is over, the battle against lawfare is far from finished.
It tells the story of Eastman, who faced disbarment and criminal charges for his role in advising Trump.
The other prominent lawyers featured in the documentary include Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig, Harvard law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz, and Jeffrey Clark, a senior Justice Department official in the Trump administration. In the movie, these attorneys draw attention to the “weaponization of the legal system,” saying that lawyers who defended Trump and other conservative figures after the 2020 election have been unfairly targeted and canceled by a politically biased legal system.
The screening of the movie coincided with the visit of a high-profile guest—Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who was also at Mar-a-Lago for a meeting with the president-elect. After dining together, Trump and Meloni joined the guests to watch the documentary.
Before the screening of the film, Trump took a moment to praise Meloni, calling her a “fantastic woman” who has “taken Europe by storm.” He also said they decided to skip dessert upstairs to watch the documentary.
“I’m a big fan of John Eastman. You know, he was right, he happened to be right,” Trump told nearly 400 guests.
“That’s why they changed the law. Nobody wants to talk about that.”
Among the attendees were Trump’s Secretary of State nominee, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Bessent. Also in attendance were Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.), Trump’s national security advisor pick, as well as Tilman Fertitta, who is slated to become the U.S. ambassador to Italy.
By Emel Akan and Jan Jekielek
