John Eastman's Sorry Excuse for Jan. 6 - WSJ Editorial
In the lead-up to the Jan. 6 riot, John Eastman gave President Trump legal advice that was terrible, and now hes trying to argue it was merely awful. In a letter to these pages on Nov. 14, Mr. Eastman, a former law professor of some distinction, denies he argued that Vice President Mike Pence could unilaterally reject electoral votes and simply declare President Trump re-elected. Mr. Eastman claims he made only a modest proposal, Swiftian allusion intended: The advice I gave to then-Vice President Pence was that he accede to requests from hundreds of state lawmakers to delay proceedings for a short time so that they could assess the effect of illegalities on the conduct of the election. Mr. Eastman specifically refers to a conversation during an Oval Office meeting on Jan. 4, 2021.
But his position is contradicted by the sworn testimony of Mr. Pences legal counsel, Greg Jacob. According to Mr. Jacob, Mr. Eastman argued at the Jan. 4 meeting that it would, in fact, be legally viable for the VP to reject electors. Mr. Eastman advised against this plan only because it would be less politically palatable. That concession apparently didnt last. The debate was renewed the next morning, Jan. 5. When Mr. Eastman came in, Mr. Jacob testified, he said, Im here to request that you reject the electors. So on the 4th, that had been the path that he had said, Im not recommending that you do that. But on the 5th, he came in and expressly requested that. A piece of Mr. Jacobs handwritten notes is in the public record. The top reads: John Eastman meeting 1/5/21. Then: Requesting VP reject.
There also are the two memos Mr. Eastman produced in advance of Jan. 6, which circulated among Mr. Trumps advisers. Heres the scenario we propose, the first one says. The VP announces that because of the ongoing disputes, seven states have no electors that can be deemed validly appointed, and Pence then gavels President Trump as re-elected. The second memo offers a menu of options. One is for Mr. Pence to outright reject electors.
A final thing to point out is that the argument in Mr. Eastmans letter isnt a defense. Its more like a plea bargain to a lesser transgression against the American republic. Asking Mr. Pence to reverse the 2020 election directly was appalling. Asking the VP to stall the Electoral College, so that state legislatures could reverse the 2020 election, was also appalling.
Suppose Mr. Pence had tried to delay. The result would have been a constitutional crisis. Federal law sets the time for choosing presidential electors, and its Election Day in November. Mr. Trump wanted state lawmakers to overrule the will of the voters two months later, and two weeks before the scheduled transfer of power, despite no proof of widespread voter fraud. Doing this could have led to violence... Getting this history right matters. The Vice President has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors, Mr. Trump tweeted on Jan. 5, 2021, the day before the riot. He didnt come up with that idea himself.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/john-eastmans-sorry-excuse-for-jan-6-mike-pence-electors-congress-donald-trump-2020-election-11668715959 (subscription)
usonian
(9,815 posts)question everything
(47,487 posts)Does one have to subscribe to the site? I tried to post the URL (original, I trimmed it here) and nothing happened
usonian
(9,815 posts)I just clicked on your link and got in.
But I use a Firefox extension "Bypass Paywalls Clean" that clears cookies and so on.
Some sites keep a cookie in your browser that counts the visits and stops you when you reach a certain count.
The copies at archive.ph seem to *always* work when they have a copy in their database.
HTH