The California State Bar has recommended that former Trump election attorney John Eastman be disbarred, a judge said in a filing on Wednesday.
Eastman was charged with multiple disciplinary counts by the State Bar of California last January from allegations that Eastman engaged in “a course of conduct to plan, promote, and assist then-President Trump in executing a strategy, unsupported by facts or law, to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election.”
“In view of the circumstances surrounding Eastman’s misconduct and balancing the aggravation and mitigation, the court recommends that Eastman be disbarred,” State Bar Court Judge Yvette D. Roland said in Wednesday’s filling.
Investigators for the California bar said Eastman made “demonstrably false and misleading statements” with the memos he drafted that became the framework for the “legal strategies” aimed at having then-Vice President Mike Pence interfere with the certification of the 2020 election.
Defendant John Eastman, left, looks toward attorney Buddy Parker during a hearing on the Georgia election interference case, Jan, 19, 2024, in Atlanta.
Jason Getz/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP
The disbarment proceedings, which began in June, featured testimony from Pence’s legal counsel Greg Jacob, state election officials from several states, and experts who Eastman relied on for his false claims of widespread election fraud.
Eastman is also one of six alleged co-conspirators in the federal election interference indictment that special counsel Jack Smith brought against former President Donald Trump in August.
Separately, Eastman has been charged alongside Trump and other co-defendants in the separate criminal election interference case in Georgia. He has pleaded not guilty.