An attorney who oversaw efforts by the Trump campaign to overturn the 2020 presidential election pled the 5th Amendment when he appeared before a Georgia grand jury investigating potential illegal election interference.
John Eastman was reportedly advised “to assert attorney client privilege and the constitutional right to remain silent where appropriate,” his lawyers Charles Burnham and Harvey Silverglate said in a statement as per the Associated Press.
The lawyers declined to say anything further about Mr Eastman’s testimony, citing the secrecy of the grand jury probe.
Mr Eastman was the author of the so-called “coup memo” that formed the basis of former president Donald Trump’s attempts to convince former vice president Mike Pence to appoint alternative electors from states where Joe Biden had won. Mr Eastman also spoke at the “Stop the Steal” rally on January 6, prior to thousands of angry Trump supporters storming the US Capital calling for Mr Pence to be executed.
The grand jury has interviewed dozens of witnesses in connection with the efforts to pressure Georgia election officials to help Mr Trump to win the state.
That witness list includes Mr Trump’s former personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, who has been told he may face charges, and Senator Lindsey Graham, who is fighting a subpoena in the courts.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis began the grand jury investigation into election interference soon after the infamous 2 January 2021 call, in which Mr Trump asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the votes needed for him to overturn an 11,000-vote deficit.
Mr Eastman’s attorneys accused Ms Willis in their statement released on Wednesday of “embarking on an unprecedented path of criminalising controversial or disfavoured legal theories.”
Outside of Mr Eastman, Ms Willis has issued subpoenas to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Trump attorney Sidney Powell to appear before the grand jury.
