Claremont Institute defends senior fellow who advised Trump on

“The Claremont Institute will not remain silent in the face of widespread lies peddled by malicious domestic political opponents,” officials from the think tank wrote. (Olivia Shrager • The Student Life)

The Claremont Institute, a conservative think tank based in Upland, published a statement on Oct. 11 defending senior fellow John Eastman, the lawyer who advised former President Donald Trump on overturning the 2020 election in Congress. 

While the Claremont Institute is not institutionally affiliated with the Claremont Colleges, three members of the Claremont McKenna College faculty are fellows of the institute. It was founded in 1979 by four alumni of Claremont Graduate University.

Eastman first became one of Trump’s legal advisors in mid-2019, when Trump saw the law professor on television, according to The New York Times. Following Trump’s loss in the 2020 election, Eastman presented the former president with legal procedures that he said could result in Trump being certified as the winner of the election.

Eastman furthered Trump’s narrative of the election as “stolen” through public appearances, even giving a speech alongside Rudy Giuliani at the rally immediately preceding the riot at the capitol on Jan. 6.

His actions quickly faced backlash from the academic community. On Jan. 13, the president of Chapman University announced ​​that the college and Eastman had reached an agreement in which he retired as a law professor, effective immediately. 

The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy, a major organization of conservative lawyers and academics, removed…