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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJudge orders former Chapman professor to prove Trump hired him
federal judge in Santa Ana Monday ruled that former Chapman University law professor John Eastman must show proof he was hired by former President Donald Trump if he wishes to continue asserting claims of attorney-client privilege regarding his emails on the university's server.
U.S. District Judge David O. Carter set a schedule for attorneys to file written arguments regarding Eastman's claims of attorney-client privilege that would shield some emails sought by the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.
Attorneys for the Jan. 6 select committee filed a motion on Friday saying Eastman has not responded to multiple requests for proof that the law professor was hired by Trump in a capacity that would allow him to assert attorney-client privilege. Without that proof, the committee argues in the motion, Eastman should not be allowed to assert the privilege and prevent the committee members access to the emails from the days leading up to and after the riots.
Eastman has sued the congressional committee to block Chapman University from releasing the emails. U.S. District Judge David O. Carter last month rejected Eastman's temporary restraining order request, clearing the way for the attorneys to go over the emails to determine what should remain secret and which ones can be sent to the committee.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/judge-orders-former-chapman-professor-to-prove-trump-hired-him/ar-AATRkHm
lisa58
(5,755 posts)Signed with a sharpie
Demovictory9
(32,457 posts)denbot
(9,900 posts)exboyfil
(17,863 posts)tclambert
(11,087 posts)monkeyman1
(5,109 posts)wnylib
(21,487 posts)PJMcK
(22,037 posts)First, he threw his lot in with Trump. WTF.
Then he claims a professional representation of Trump. We all know that this judge's order-- that Eastman has to prove the professional relationship with Trump-- is going to show that Eastman was acting on his own and cannot prove he was Trump attorney.
Here's the kicker: Apparently, Eastman used his Chapman University email account for much (if not all) of his communications regarding Trump. This is illegal as it violates the University's 501(c)(3) status. The school's resources cannot be used for political purposes. I think this means that no matter what, Eastman doesn't own his emails, the University does.
Eastman is an idiot. His theory of how elections can work is flawed. His fealty to Trump is self-destructive. His apparent understanding of the law is incorrect. It'll be mildly satisfying to see this smug, arrogant fool get tossed under the bus and possibly sanctioned for his un-American and treasonous acts.
Demovictory9
(32,457 posts)malaise
(269,054 posts)How did he think he could get away with this?
Stupid is kind.
PJMcK
(22,037 posts)Eastman, Giuliani, Powell, etc. are profoundly bad lawyers. They believe their own hype. They also believe in their own invincibility. Boy, are they in for some surprises!
Still, consider this thought. If Trump's coup had succeeded, these soon-to-be ex-lawyers would be protected as would Trump. If Trump remained in office, all of his foot soldiers would be covered by Trump's umbrella.
Thankfully, our Constitution held fast. This time, at least.
This is why it is critical that all of Trump's crimes and schemes have to be revealed for all the world to see. It's the only way the U.S. can survive.
sanatanadharma
(3,707 posts)The hubris of today's always-wrong right is off the charts.
BTW, the new American century was postponed by Trump'; glory is only a few weeks away, I say.
wnylib
(21,487 posts)Never anticipated losing and being investigated.
malaise
(269,054 posts)which is beyond stupid
LiberalFighter
(50,950 posts)non-university purposes. Especially non-related business. The political part is good.
Eastman knows absolutely nothing about election law pertaining to conducting elections.
inthewind21
(4,616 posts)With ANY email account you don't own. That's why divorce attorneys (mine included) tell you right away to NOT use a work or any type of business email. Create one for strictly attorney client use with gmail, yahoo etc. Because those can't be subpoenaed. Employers/business emails can. Funny story, my ex husband used a private email. Or so he thought. It was the email set up though a domain for a potential business we were looking at setting up years ago. Ummmmm. I'm half owner. So yeah, I granted my attorney permission to get any and ALL emails from email address ...
PRETZEL
(3,245 posts)that a lot of these communications were done on Chapman U's email address?
If so, do those communications belong to Chapman or Eastman?
obamanut2012
(26,080 posts)Where I work, we are 100% transparent if we use work email -- everything is considered discoverable and accessible.
LetMyPeopleVote
(145,321 posts)AnnetteChaffee
(1,979 posts)but [the dog] ate it....er, flushed it... it's taped up around here somewhere Judge....
Picaro
(1,521 posts)there are a lot of bad lawyers out there. But Trump seems to have provided an irresistible attraction to the worst of them.
Michael Cohen, Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Lin Wood, John Eastman. Theyre all not only bad lawyers but theyre fucking crazy too.
watching these stupid fuckers turn themselves inside out trying to prove the unprovable is an absolute delight at times but it is really horrifying in other ways.
This carnival of incompetence was just a hair away from being able to overthrow the elected government of the United States.
With absolute hindsighit it has become apparent that our Constitution is not some sort of brilliant document but a piece of paper that has such huge holes in it that you could drive a truck through most of them. When you have a supreme court that deliberately misinterpret things and creates law out of thin air we are in an incredibly dangerous situation.
But hell we didnt even need the constitution to be filled with holes.
We have a situation where the Senate, who can determine their own rules, decided to create something called the filibuster back in the mists of time. We are now in a state of almost complete paralysis due to this extra constitutional frill that was put into our government.
Sometimes I think were gonna get out of this and look back and maybe do some of the things we need to do to make it better.
And then other times I lose all hope because the general population of the United States is incredibly ignorant and dont know whats going on for the most part.
You cant really run a democracy with an ignorant population.
Someone else on this site just posted what people think are the top things to worry about and number one on the list is inflation. Not civil rights, not racism, not wealth disparity, not the complete paralysis of the American government
No they think inflation is the number one problem.
Jesus Mary Joseph its hard to fight stupidity like that.