Trump lawyer John Eastman referred for prosecution by Jan. 6

WASHINGTON — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol recommended Monday that the Justice Department investigate and potentially prosecute former President Donald Trump’s election law attorney John Eastman on two counts, stemming from his role in advancing a plan to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

Eastman’s referral was for his alleged violation of the statute that makes it a criminal offense to impede an official proceeding of the United States government, and secondly, the law that prohibits conspiring to defraud the United States.

Eastman is the author of a two-page memo that outlined what he said was a plan for then-Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to certify the presidential electoral count on Jan. 6.

“The evidence shows that Eastman knew in advance of the 2020 election that Vice President Pence could not refuse to count electoral votes on January 6th,” the committee wrote in an executive report issued Monday.

“In the days before January 6th, Eastman was warned repeatedly that his plan was illegal and ‘completely crazy,’ and would ’cause riots in the streets.’ Nonetheless, Eastman continued to assist President Trump’s pressure campaign in public and in private, including in meetings with the Vice President and in his own speech at the Ellipse on January 6th,” the report states.

CNBC reached out to Eastman and several of his attorneys for comment, but they did not immediately respond.

Eastman was subpoenaed by the committee in late 2021, but he asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and refused to appear.

The plan centered on Pence refusing to certify the results of the presidential election in seven states because they allegedly had “competing” electors. In fact, there were no competing electors, there were merely Trump allies who were going to falsely claim that they were electors. The scheme became known as the “Fake Electors” scheme.

Eastman and Trump repeatedly attempted to convince Pence to comply with the scheme, but he ultimately refused.

An aide to Pence later told the committee during a taped interview that Eastman knew the plan he was proposing was illegal, because it would violate the federal Electoral Count Act. “But he thought that we could do so, because in his view, the Electoral Count Act was unconstitutional,” the aide, Greg Jacob said.

This is a developing story, please check back for updates.