'Coup lawyer' John Eastman trying to block 37,000 pages of records from Jan. 6 panel

One of the key figures in now-former President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the election is lawyer John Eastman, who is still trying to overturn the 2020 elections to this day. Eastman also continues to block the January 6 congressional committee from receiving thousands of pages of his emails.

According to a report by Politico, Eastman is trying to assert attorney-client privilege over 37,000 pages of emails that the congressional panel investigating the January 6 riots is looking to obtain as part of its probe. This is another indication of the extent to which Eastman is willing to go to keep his communications away from the panel.

The committee has rejected all of Eastman’s claims, which means that federal judge David Carter will have to review all the so-called privileged documents on a case-by-case basis.

The scope of Eastman’s claims of privilege surfaced in a status report to the judge Monday. Back in January, Carter ordered Eastman to launch a review of his emails related to his work for the former president, combing through 1,000 to 1,500 pages per business day. Carter also ordered Eastman to create a detailed log indicating which emails the lawyer describes as privileged and provide other details.

Carter has previously ruled that both Eastman and Trump likely engaged in criminal acts to obstruct Congress, which the judge previously described as “a coup in search of a legal theory.” Eastman then turned over thousands of pages of Trump-related emails, as Carter ruled that attorney-client privilege does not apply to these communications.

The congressional committee is expected to start holding televised hearings for their investigation in the coming weeks. Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, told The Guardian, Climate One Radio, and Reuters that the committee intends to disclose the entire timeline of events in the efforts to overturn the election, culminating in the Capitol insurrection.

“This was a coup organized by the president against the vice president against the Congress in order to overturn the 2020 presidential election,” said Raskin, who added that had the pro-Trump rioters succeeded in derailing Congress from certifying the election, the now-former Republican president would likely invoke the Insurrection Act and declare martial law.