|
In
a court filing — one of the U.S. House of Represenative's Select
Committee's most detailed releases of findings yet — the panel
said Trump potentially engaged in conspiracy to defraud the
United States and may have obstructed an official proceeding.
The Select Committee's members have previously said they will
consider passing along evidence of criminal conduct by Trump to
the U.S. Justice Department. Such a move, known as a criminal
referral, would be largely symbolic but would increase political
pressure on Attorney General Merrick Garland to charge the
former president and would thrust his department into a
political firestorm.
"[E]vidence and information available to the Committee
establishes a good-faith belief that Mr. Trump and others may
have engaged in criminal and/or fraudulent acts," the committee
said in a court filing.
"The Select Committee also has a good-faith basis for concluding
that the President and members of his Campaign engaged in a
criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States," the filing
said.
The court document was filed in federal court in Los Angeles as
part of the Select Committee's dispute with John Eastman, a
lawyer who advised Trump on a plan to invalidate election
results in key battleground states.
Eastman sued the committee in December, seeking to block a
congressional subpoena requesting that he turn over thousands of
emails.
Charles Burnham, a lawyer for Eastman, said in a statement on
Wednesday that Eastman is abiding by his ethical duty to protect
client confidences.
"The Select Committee has responded to Dr. Eastman's efforts to
discharge this responsibility by accusing him of criminal
conduct," Burnham said. "Because this is a civil matter, Dr.
Eastman will not have the benefit of the Constitutional
protections normally afforded to those accused by their
government of criminal conduct. Nonetheless, we look forward to
responding in due course."
Representatives of Eastman and Trump did not immediately respond
to requests for comment. Trump has repeatedly called the Select
Committee's inquiry a politically motivated investigation.
The court filing included emails obtained by the Select
Committee from the day of the Jan. 6 attack, including one where
a lawyer for then-Vice President Mike Pence said no judges would
endorse Eastman's legal strategy for overturning Trump's
election defeat.
“Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege,” the Pence
lawyer, Greg Jacob, wrote to Eastman.
“The ‘siege’ is because YOU and your boss did not do what was
necessary to allow this to be aired in a public way so the
American people can see for themselves what happened,” Eastman
replied.
The committee's leaders said in a statement that "Eastman’s
emails may show that he helped Donald Trump advance a corrupt
scheme to obstruct the counting of electoral college ballots and
a conspiracy to impede the transfer of power."
Attorney regulators in California said Tuesday they have been
investigating Eastman and whether he acted unethically in his
work for Trump. The investigation could lead to disciplinary
action against Eastman, such as suspension of his law license.
(Reporting by Jan Wolfe and Patricia Zengerle in Washington;
Editing by Edwina Gibbs & Simon Cameron-Moore)
[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
