Liberal Activist Judge in Eastman Email Case Rules Trump ‘Likely’ Obstructed Congress

U.S. District Judge David O. Carter ruled Monday that former President Donald Trump “more likely than not” tried to obstruct Congress on January 6, 2021, and that therefore lawyer John Eastman must hand over emails to a House inquiry.

The case arose because Eastman had sued to block the release of about 100 emails that are based on the servers of Chapman University in Orange, California, citing attorney-client privilege. But attorney-client privilege does not cover attempts to commit fraud or a crime.

Without ruling that such a crime had been committed, but that it was “more likely than not,” the judge ordered Eastman to hand over all but 10 emails to the U.S. House committee examining the January 6 Capitol riot.

Judge Carter also declared: “The evidence shows that Dr. Eastman was aware that his plan violated the Electoral Count Act. Dr. Eastman likely acted deceitfully and dishonestly each time he pushed an outcome-driven plan that he knew was unsupported by the law.”

Eastman and other Trump allies have said that they did not intend to obstruct Congress, much less mount an “insurrection,” but rather to use a peaceful protest to put public pressure on Congress and Vice President Mike Pence to decline to certify the results of the Electoral College vote in the 2020 presidential election in several states, claiming voting irregularities. Trump himself was acquitted in a controversial second impeachment trial in 2021 in which he was accused of inciting the riot.

Judge Carter, a Bill Clinton appointee, recently made headlines by ordering the city and county of Los Angeles to house every homeless person, citing “systemic racism” in his ruling. He took the unusual step of going to homeless sites himself to investigate. His order was overturned by the liberal Ninth Circuit, citing “extensive error.”

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.