I hope that you were able to spend some quality time with loved ones over the holidays. My wife and I were blessed with a respite from the lawfare ordeals we’ve been facing and were able to enjoy time with our children and an ever-expanding family. It was a welcome relief!
Now that the new year is upon us, I want to let you know where things stand on the various attacks that are being waged against me.
The day after Christmas, California State Bar prosecutors were forced to admit that their closing brief in their attempt to have me disbarred contained significant errors. This brief is emblematic of their entire sordid case against me.
Prosecutors claimed in their brief to the State Bar Court that the “DC Circuit” – the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia – had rejected my contention that the Electoral Count Act (ECA) is unconstitutional. In fact, the Court of Appeals has never addressed this issue. Prosecutors tried to give authority to a purported statement by a lower district court judge by wrongly attributing it to the higher appeals court.
But that’s not the only error that prosecutors made in their closing brief. In claiming that “the D.C. Circuit has just rejected the argument that the ECA is unconstitutional in the Wisconsin Voters Alliance case,” prosecutors not only identified the wrong court but they falsely characterized the judge’s ruling in this case. The District Court never rejected the argument that the Electoral Count Act is unconstitutional.
The issue the Court addressed was whether state legislatures were alone authorized under the Constitution to certify the election of presidential electors and could not delegate that authority to other state officials. It held that they were not but in doing so, the Court did not address whether the ECA is constitutional.
Though I was not a lawyer representing a party in the DC case, the constitutionality of the Electoral Count Act is an important issue in my California disbarment trial. It is one of many bases – though by no means the only one – that I relied on to lawfully assist President Trump bring forth legitimate questions about the 2020 elections and the certification of state results.
My legal team and I spent an incredible ten weeks in trial pushing back against the State Bar’s many false and inflammatory charges. We worked hard to introduce evidence providing a factual and legal basis for the arguments that I properly brought forth on President Trump’s behalf. In the process, we demolished the central core of their case, that there was no factual or legal basis to claim that fraud or illegalities occurred in the election.
The judge hearing the State Bar’s complaint is expected to rule in the next few weeks, by the end of February at the latest.
A ruling against me with a recommendation of disbarment will trigger a renewed effort before the District of Columbia Bar to have me disbarred there as well. And likely before the U.S. Supreme Court as well. Another lawfare group similar to the one that is responsible for initiating the State Bar complaint in California is also going after me in the US Supreme Court. I’ll have the right to appeal an adverse State Bar Court judgement, and request a hearing before the D.C. Bar and in the US Supreme Court on any federal disbarment action, but my law license will be suspended while those appeals are pending.
The various disbarment proceedings are just the tip of the iceberg in the lawfare abuse being waged against me. I’m very fortunate to have received over $500,000 in donations to my legal defense fund, but the legal costs I’ve incurred thus far are currently three times as much.
My family and I are not in a position to handle these extraordinary costs by ourselves. As we look ahead to a long and difficult series of battles in 2024, I urgently hope that you will act today to help us erase the shortfall we are facing and be in a strong position to defend against the attacks that await us this year.
Let’s move now to the situation in Georgia where I have been indicted, along with former President Trump, on nine counts by a partisan prosecutor whose entire campaign for office was premised on “getting” Donald Trump.
Ms. Fani Willis, the Fulton County District Attorney, has been pushing the Georgia court to proceed with a coordinated trial against me, President Trump and the other defendants beginning on August 5th. This date was based on when federal special counsel Jack Smith was expected to be done with his prosecution of President Trump in Washington, DC. However, the federal prosecution has been embroiled in a series of legal issues relating to the scope of presidential immunity. These proceedings have resulted in the federal judge putting the trial date on hold. There’s a strong likelihood that the start of Jack Smith’s federal trial will thus be delayed regardless of how the Supreme Court eventually rules on the presidential immunity question.
There’s also an ominous possibility that’s come into focus concerning Jack Smith’s prosecution of President Trump for alleged election interference. I did nothing but provide President Trump legitimate legal advice based on the law and Constitution. Nonetheless, I have been named an “unindicted co-conspirator” in this case.
As the federal case heats up, leftwing legal “analysts” are now openly speculating that the unindicted co-conspirators – such as me! – will ultimately be indicted and tried in D.C. federal court as well.
Meanwhile, because of the delay in the federal trial, some legal observers now believe that Ms. Willis will seek to move her state prosecution up, potentially seeking to begin her trial against me and the others as early as this March!
The ferocity and extent of the lawfare attacks against me are simply unfathomable. The State Bar disbarment verdict and potential appeal, fighting off an attempt to have me disbarred by the US Supreme Court, the Georgia prosecution that seeks to land me in prison, and potential prosecution in Washington, DC by Joe Biden’s DOJ hand-picked special counsel Jack Smith are each, by themselves, a monumental undertaking. But taken together, they are collectively overwhelming.
Independent entities such as The Federalist have estimated that I will need to raise $3-3.5 million to contend with the lawfare assault being waged against me. I fear 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 right away. 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 strengthen 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.
The left’s lawfare effort is aimed at ruining me. 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.
I have no intention of giving up. In many ways, my entire legal career as a legal scholar, law school Dean, law professor and leading Supreme Court litigator has uniquely prepared me to withstand the overwhelming attacks being waged by the left against me.
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 various attacks against me likely to take 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.
The recent holidays where we were blessed to spend time with our children and growing family was a poignant reminder of what is at stake. The lawfare radicals want to take me away from my wife, children and other family; they want to throw me into prison for decades; they want to strip me of my ability to practice law and represent conservative principles and clients in the courts; and they want to send a message to every other conservative lawyer in America that they better not dare challenge the left or they, too, will face potential ruination.
Please keep my wife and I, and our growing family, in your prayers. Thank you for your friendship and support.
Sincerely,
John Eastman
Constitutional Scholar
Attorney for President Donald Trump