Pro-Trump attorney John Eastman, a key figure in the Georgia election case, turns himself in in jail
John Eastman, visiting scholar of thought and politics at the University of Colorado Boulder, speaks about his plans to sue the university at a news conference outside CU Boulder on Thursday, April 29, 2021.
Andy Cross | Denver Post | Getty Images
John Eastman, an attorney facing criminal charges for his efforts to overturn former President Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election, surrendered in an Atlanta jail on Tuesday.
Eastman has been booked into the Fulton County Jail, the inmate database on the website shows. As of 11:25 a.m. ET, he has not been released.
Eastman is one of 19 co-defendants, including Trump, facing charges in the Georgia criminal case led by Fulton County District Attorney Fanny Willis.
Eastman penned a notorious memo outlining the questionable legal theory that then-Vice President Mike Pence had the authority to reject votes from the primary Electoral College while presiding over a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.
Eastman faces nine counts of felony counts including racketeering, conspiracy to commit forgery, and submitting false documents.
All defendants in the case must surrender in jail by Friday. Trump, who faces 13 criminal charges, said on social media late Monday that he would surrender on Thursday.
A judge on Monday set Eastman’s bail at $100,000.
Eastman said in a statement It was posted on the website of one of his lawyers.
“It crosses the Rubicon for our country, signaling a basic First Amendment right to petition the government for grievance redress,” Eastman said.
He accused Willis of targeting attorneys who had merely undertaken “an ardent defense on behalf of their clients”, by challenging the election results “through lawful and appropriate means”.
“An attempt to criminalize our rights to such fairness with this indictment will have – and will already have – devastating consequences for our justice system,” Eastman said.
He vowed to “vigorously contest” the charges against him and expressed confidence that all other defendants would be “fully acquitted”.
Eastman was the second known defendant in the Willis case to surrender to the Fulton County Jail. Scott Hall, a Georgia bail officer charged with seven felony counts, was booked into custody earlier Monday morning. As of 11:15 a.m. ET, Hall has not been released, according to the prison’s website.
It was Eastman’s surrender It said It is expected Wednesday, after comments from a California judge overseeing a separate case that could lead to the Eastman case Take off the bar in the state.
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This article originally appeared on www.cnbc.com
