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.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
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.
-
5 hilariously spirited cartoons about the spirit of Christmas
Cartoons Artists take on excuses, pardons, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Inside the house of Assad
The Explainer Bashar al-Assad and his father, Hafez, ruled Syria for more than half a century but how did one family achieve and maintain power?
By The Week UK Published
-
Sudoku medium: December 22, 2024
The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
By The Week Staff Published
-
'All too often, we get caught up in tunnel vision'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Putin says Russia isn't weakened by Syria setback
Speed Read Russia had been one of the key backers of Syria's ousted Assad regime
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Georgia DA Fani Willis removed from Trump case
Speed Read Willis had been prosecuting the election interference case against the president-elect
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Democrats blame 'President Musk' for looming shutdown
Speed Read The House of Representatives rejected a spending package that would've funding the government into 2025
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Does Trump have the power to end birthright citizenship?
Today's Big Question He couldn't do so easily, but it may be a battle he considers worth waging
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Trump, Musk sink spending bill, teeing up shutdown
Speed Read House Republicans abandoned the bill at the behest of the two men
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Is Elon Musk about to disrupt British politics?
Today's big question Mar-a-Lago talks between billionaire and Nigel Farage prompt calls for change on how political parties are funded
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Will California's EV mandate survive Trump, SCOTUS challenge?
Today's Big Question The Golden State's climate goal faces big obstacles
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published