Here’s What’s Happened So Far in the Trial Where Ex-Trump Attorney John Eastman Could Lose His Law License 

Conservative attorney John Eastman still has at least another week to go in disciplinary proceedings before the California state bar where he could lose his law license over efforts to help keep Donald Trump in the White House despite losing the 2020 presidential election. 

A handful of the prosecution’s witnesses have so far testified in the trial-like proceedings that opened on Tuesday in Los Angeles and where the 63-year old attorney is facing a total of 11 disciplinary charges.

Ultimately, Eastman could be disbarred due to the alleged ethical breaches lodged by the State Bar of California. He is accused of obstructing the count of electoral votes in “certain” states, and of making false and misleading statements about what Trump and allies were doing to try and stop Joe Biden’s inauguration as the 46th president of the United States. 

Central to the case for stripping Eastman of his state law license is a 6-step memo he prepared for Trump that proposed having then-Vice President Mike Pence agree to question the validity of the 2020 vote counts for critical swing states. Eastman’s plan involved Pence, in his capacity overseeing the joint session of Congress, halting the certification of the Electoral College tally during what would normally be a largely ceremonial proceeding in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. 

The entire Trump team's effort surrounding the 2020 election’s aftermath is now the subject of a Justice Department investigation led by Special Counsel Jack Smith, and potential federal criminal charges are possible for a number of people involved in the effort. There have also been professional consequences for people like Eastman, including the California state bar ethics investigation launched in September 2021 and losing his job as a law professor at Chapman University in Orange, Calif. His ouster there followed campus outrage in the days after Chapman delivered a speech alongside fellow Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani outside the White House before the violent mob rioted at the U.S. Capitol. 

State Bar Court Judge Yvette Roland has 90 days to reach a decision on Eastman's disbarment after the trial concludes, which could take longer than a week due to the lengthy list of prosecution and defense witnesses. Eastman can appeal any ruling to the California Supreme Court. 

Here’s a look at some of the key moments surrounding the Eastman disciplinary proceedings:

What the prosecution is saying

California’s State Bar argues Eastman acted unconstitutionally by stating the 2020 election results were invalid. It also claims his statements had a direct effect on the Capitol insurrection. 

In announcing the initial investigation, Chief Trial Counsel George Cardona called what Eastman did on Trump’s behalf “moral turpitude, dishonesty, and corruption.”   

"Dr. Eastman and President Trump conspired to disrupt the electoral count on Jan. 6,” Duncan Carling, the attorney leading the State Bar's case against Eastman, said in his opening statement on Tuesday. 

Attorney Greg Jacob, a Pence advisor, testified on Wednesday for the prosecution as it tried to draw a connection between Eastman’s efforts and the Jan. 6 riot.

"It was apparent to me that the people who marched on the Capitol did so because they believed that there was a momentous decision that was going to decide who was going to be president of the United States to be made in that building that day," Jacob said, referring to Eastman’s memo and other public speeches about his plans.

Jacob also addressed Eastman’s memo to Pence.

“No vice president in the entire history of our country had ever asserted — made any public statement — that they had the authority” to reject electoral vote certificates, Jacob testified.

Pence concluded he did not have the authority that Eastman was pushing for, and the vice president did not follow that plan. Jacob questioned the strategy back in late 2020 and early 2021. “Thanks to your [bulls***] we are now under siege,” Jacob emailed Eastman from the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Jacob repeated that view during his testimony on Wednesday.

Eastman’s defense

Randy Miller, Eastman’s attorney, argued on the second day of hearings that Eastman never intended to do anything that ran counter to the U.S. Constitution. He also argued that Eastman shouldn’t face disciplinary measures for simply raising ideas and helping a client strategize on ways to implement them. 

"Lawyers get to argue debatable issues," Miller said. "The State Bar cannot discipline a lawyer for advancing tenable positions."

Carling, the state bar prosecutor, countered that Eastman “was fully aware in real time that his plan was damaging the nation.”

Judge Roland has ruled against many of Eastman’s proposed witnesses taking the stand in his defense. She has questioned their expertise and relevance to the trial. One of them was Joseph Fried, a Certified Public Accountant who wrote an ebook about the 2020 elections — whose opinion Roland ruled irrelevant. 

Eastman still has an extensive list of witnesses he wants to call. It includes Republican Mark Finchem, a former Arizona state representative and member of the far-right extremist group Oath Keepers, and Douglas Frank, a former high school teacher and law professor who travels the country talking about his theories concerning fraud in the 2020 election.

“It’s a full-fledged trial. They’re pulling out all the stops," Eastman said last Saturday during a podcast interview with Steve Bannon, the former Trump campaign and White House aide who also is under scrutiny for his role in the 2020 presidential election. 

Eastman argued heading into the proceedings that the charges against him were “baseless.” He also said he was “deeply disappointed” that the California Bar had chosen to “politicize” the process.