Analysis by WorldTribune Staff, May 19, 2024 Contract With Our Readers
Arizona Democrats were handed the baton in the party’s lawfare race against Republicans on Friday as they arrested and charged former Trump attorney John Eastman over his role in contesting the 2020 election.
Eastman, a constitutional scholar, was arrested, booked, and arraigned in Phoenix.
Arizona Democrat Attorney General Kris Mayes brought the charges and secured indictments in April against Eastman along with Arizona’s alternate Republican slate of electors, Rudy Giuliani, and Trump’s former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
Trump is an unindicted co-conspirator.
Eastman, voluntarily surrendered to arrest, pleaded not guilty to conspiracy, fraud, forgery, and related felony charges The Arizona Sun Times reported.
The indictment accused Eastman of pressuring the Arizona Legislature to “change the results of the election.” It said he “encouraged the Republican electors to vote on December 14, 2020, and spread false claims of widespread election fraud.” Additionally, it said he attempted to convince Vice President Mike Pence to “reject or at least delay the confirmation of the lawfully chosen electors.”
Eastman provided a statement outside the courthouse after the arraignment:
“These charges should’ve never been brought. I pled not guilty. I had zero communications with the electors in Arizona. Zero involvement in any of the election litigation in Arizona or legislative hearings. I’m confident that if the law is faithfully applied I will be fully exonerated at the end of this process.”
After the press conference, a reporter asked Eastman: “Can you tell voters why they were in jeopardy of losing 1.7 million votes because of your legal theory?” Eastman responded: “That’s a pretty skewed question; I won’t answer it.”
Eastman is the first of the indicted defendants to be arraigned. Most of the others are scheduled to be arraigned on May 21, including nine of the 11 alternate electors. Meadows is scheduled to be arraigned on June 7. Prosecutors have been unable to serve Giuliani.
The defendants in the Arizona Democrats’ case, whose names were initially redacted from the indictment since they had not been served when it was first published, are Boris Epshteyn, Christina Bobb, Jenna Ellis, and Michael Roman.
The alternate electors in Arizona named as defendants are: Kelli Ward, Michael Ward, Nancy Cottle, Loraine B. Pellegrino, Tyler Bowyer, Jake Hoffman, Anthony T. Kern, James Lamon, Robert Montgomery, Samuel I. Moorhead, Greg Safsten.
Four other states have charged alternate slates of Republican electors with fraud, forgery, and conspiracy, which are class 2, 4, and 5 felonies, respectively.
California disciplinary court judge Yvette Roland, who funneled donations to a Democratic SuperPAC that fights against election integrity, said she disbarred Eastman primarily for advising Trump of various options for dealing with the election illegalities.
Eastman is appealing the disbarment.
Former Trump attorney John Eastman pleads ‘not guilty’ after arrest in Arizona added by Editor Two on
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