Trump Jan. 6 adviser John Eastman says the FBI seized his phone and he wants it back

John Eastman
(Image credit: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

Last Wednesday, on the same day federal agents searched the Virginia home of former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, FBI agents armed with a search warrant took the phone of former law professor John Eastman as he was leaving a restaurant, presumably in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Eastman said in a court filing Monday. Eastman and Clark played integral roles in parallel efforts to keep former President Donald Trump in power after he lost the 2020 election using invalid Electoral College ballots.

In Monday's filing, Eastman's lawyer Charles Burnham asked a judge to make the FBI give Eastman back his iPhone, arguing that the FBI served its warrant on behalf of the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General and Eastman, who didn't work for the Justice Department, is "outside of the OIG's jurisdiction." Eastman also said the warrant never specified any crimes he may be tied to.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.