My wife and I have been blessed with an ever-expanding family joining us to celebrate Christmas this year, and we hope that our many friends who share our Christian faith will be able to celebrate a blessed and merry Christmas as well. We also would like to extend our best wishes to our Jewish friends who have recently concluded the beloved Hannukah celebration.
As we wait for the California State Bar judge to issue her ruling in the left’s attempts to have me disbarred by the state – a decision that could come at any time – it’s worth taking a step back to understand the essence of the attacks that are being waged against me.
It’s called “lawfare” because the left is using the law as a weapon against me not only as punishment because they hate the fact that I helped President Trump lawfully bring forth concerns about the 2020 elections, but also to send a message to other conservative lawyers that challenging the left will result in severe repercussions.
The goal of the lawfare attack against me is simple – my utter ruin. They are trying to bankrupt my family, destroy my reputation, take away my ability to earn a living in my chosen profession and imprison me. In the process they are demonstrating to other conservative lawyers that taking on election challenges and other important constitutional battles will come at a cost so severe that most lawyers will not get involved.
I have been very fortunate to have many supporters who have collectively donated over $500,000 so far to my legal defense fund. I am deeply grateful for this outpouring of support. Unfortunately, however, I’ve incurred legal fees that are three times greater than what has been raised by my Legal Defense Fund, and I have outstanding legal bills that simply must be paid – soon!
My family and I are not in a position to handle the cost of the left’s lawfare attack by ourselves, and are depending on people of good will to help. I urgently hope that you will act today to help us erase the shortfall we are facing and get ready to defend against the attacks that await us in 2024.
The left isn’t even subtle about what they want to do. Lawfare groups filed the initial complaint against me in California filled with false charges, and State Bar prosecutors then tragically repeated these false charges nearly word-for-word in their prosecution against me.
In Georgia, we have a prosecutor whose entire campaign for office was premised on “getting” Donald Trump and who actively began raising money for her reelection in the immediate aftermath of her indictment of Mr. Trump along with his top team of legal and political advisors.
What’s most concerning to me and my family – and what should concern every American of good will – is that the left’s lawfare attack against me could work.
They certainly have succeeded in making the process itself so costly and difficult that most people in my situation would just give up and try to strike some sort of deal to end the lawfare misery. But I am not giving up.
My legal team and I spent months of preparation getting ready for the State Bar trial. The trial itself took up an incredible ten weeks of testimony. Every day was a battle to get into evidence the truth that my representation of President Trump was well-grounded in the facts of the election and the law and Constitution.
Since the core of the State Bar’s charges against me is that there was no evidence of election fraud or illegality in the 2020 elections, you’d think that the State Bar Court would want to hear any evidence that might exist. But you would be wrong.
State Bar prosecutors fought tooth and nail to keep my team from introducing evidence of irregularity, illegality and fraud in the elections. Despite objection after objection, our team put on a wide array of credible witnesses that, for the first time, laid bare in a courtroom many of the illegal and fraudulent activities that occurred in critical states such as Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona and Pennsylvania.
But this effort, and what we face in Georgia and in the DC case brought against President Trump by special counsel Jack Smith, is enormous. The Federalist news publication has estimated that I will need to raise $3-3.5 million to contend with the lawfare assault being waged against me. Sadly, I think their estimate is accurate.
As noted earlier, though I have been blessed with over half a million dollars in donations to my legal defense fund, I have already incurred legal costs of three times that amount and have pending legal bills that must be paid soon. On top of that, I am looking at needing an additional $1 million by February to adequately defend myself in Georgia and Washington, DC.
I urgently need your help to move forward with my defense. Will you consider making a donation today of $50, $100, $250, $500 or even $1,000 or more? It would mean so much to our family to have this additional assistance.
As you can see, the left’s lawfare effort aimed at ruining me is taking a real toll. I am categorically innocent of all the charges against me and I am doing everything in my power to defend myself and expose the truth. But an unfortunate reality of exposing the truth against a government that is increasingly a tool of the left is that the battle itself is so costly and difficult that most people are forced to give up.
As I explained in a recent speech to a group of conservative stalwarts, I have no intention of giving up: “My whole life, my whole education, my twenty years teaching constitutional law, my twenty years of running one of the leading public interest constitutional litigation centers in the country, 200 cases in the Supreme Court, has probably equipped me to be able to push back against this [lawfare persecution] better than anybody else.”
I am going to fight the radical left as long as it takes to win, but I can’t do it alone. I need your help to erase the shortfall we currently face, and to secure the additional $1 million my legal team needs by February in order to continue our vigorous defense.
Your immediate donation today will make a real difference. If at all possible, please also consider making a pledge to contribute an amount of your choosing on a monthly basis. With the Georgia prosecution likely taking up much if not all of 2024, knowing that I can count on your support each month would be a real blessing and source of comfort.
I thank you for your prayers, friendship and financial support. In this holy season so important to Christians and Jews, I pray that each of our families will be blessed with peace, justice and good fortune. May God continue to bless us, and our nation.
Sincerely,
John Eastman
Constitutional Scholar
Attorney for President Donald Trump