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


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.
The DOJ inspector general's office has the authority to investigate any public corruption crimes committed by department officials, and "those investigations can lead to people and places outside the Justice Department," Michael Bromwich, a former DOJ inspector general, tells The New York Times. "There must be a connection between Eastman and someone who worked at the department."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In this case, the Justice Department inspector general could be investigating Eastman due to his connections to Clark or Ken Klukowski, a Justice Department lawyer who helped Clark write an unsent letter urging Georgia's governor to convene a special legislative session to create "a separate slate of electors supporting Donald J. Trump," citing false "significant concerns" about the validity of the election.
Klukowski "worked with John Eastman," House Jan. 6 committee vice chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said at a public hearing in which she described Eastman as "one of the primary architects of President Trump's scheme to overturn the election." The committee showed video of Eastman repeatedly invoking his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination and shared an email in which he told Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani: "I've decided I should be on the pardon list."
Also last Wednesday, a federal grand jury issued subpoenas to a raft of people who served as false Trump electors or may have information about the fake elector scheme. "The subpoenas," the Times reports, "show that prosecutors are seeking information about lawyers" close to Trump "during the chaotic postelection period," like Eastman, Giuliani, and Wisconsin lawyer Kenneth Chesebro.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
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.
-
June 29 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include the AI genie, Iran saving face, and bad language bombs
-
A tall ship adventure in the Mediterranean
The Week Recommends Sailing aboard this schooner and exploring Portugal, Spain and Monaco is a 'magical' experience
-
How drone warfare works
The Explainer From Ukraine to Iran, it has become clear that unmanned aircraft are rapidly revolutionising modern warfare
-
Trump's strikes on Iran: a 'spectacular success'?
In Depth Military humiliations 'expose the brittleness' of Tehran's ageing regime, but risk reinforcing its commitment to its nuclear program
-
Will NATO countries meet their new spending goal?
today's big question The cost of keeping Trump happy
-
Canadian man dies in ICE custody
Speed Read A Canadian citizen with permanent US residency died at a federal detention center in Miami
-
GOP races to revise megabill after Senate rulings
Speed Read A Senate parliamentarian ruled that several changes to Medicaid included in Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" were not permissible
-
Supreme Court lets states ax Planned Parenthood funds
Speed Read The court ruled that Planned Parenthood cannot sue South Carolina over the state's effort to deny it funding
-
Trump plans Iran talks, insists nuke threat gone
Speed Read 'The war is done' and 'we destroyed the nuclear,' said President Trump
-
Trump embraces NATO after budget vow, charm offensive
Speed Read The president reversed course on his longstanding skepticism of the trans-Atlantic military alliance
-
Bibi's back: what will Netanyahu do next?
Today's Big Question Riding high after a series of military victories, Israel's PM could push for peace in Gaza – or secure his own position with snap election