Santa Fe resident John Eastman vows to challenge indictment in Georgia

SANTA FE — New Mexico resident John Eastman is one of 19 people facing criminal charges in Georgia that accuse the defendants of conspiring to overturn former President Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss.

The indictment alleges Trump, Eastman and others participated in a “criminal enterprise” that operated in at least seven states, including New Mexico.

Eastman, in particular, is accused of filing false allegations of illegal voting in federal court and of attempting to persuade then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject electoral votes from certain states or delay the counting of qualified presidential electors.

Eastman, a lawyer and longtime Santa Fe resident, is charged with nine counts altogether.

Attorneys for Eastman blasted the indictment, describing it as an effort to target legitimate legal and political advocacy protected by the Constitution.

In a joint statement, Eastman’s legal team said the indictment “sets out activity that is political, but not criminal. It goes hand-in-glove with the recent effort to criminalize lawful political speech and legal advice, in stark violation of constitutional rights to Freedom of Speech, Right to Petition the Government for Redress of Grievances, and the Right to Counsel.”

Pursuing the charges, Eastman’s attorneys said, could have broader effects on the legal profession.

“Lawyers everywhere should be sleepless over this latest stunt to criminalize their advocacy,” the attorneys said. “This is a legal cluster-bomb that leaves unexploded ordinances for lawyers to navigate in perpetuity.”

Eastman, his attorneys added, would “challenge this indictment in any and all forums available to him.”

Eastman’s legal team includes Harvey Silverglate of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Charles Burnham of Washington, D.C.

Alleged ‘criminal organization’

The Georgia indictment covers much of the same ground as a federal indictment that levied charges against Trump two weeks ago. But Eastman surfaced in the federal indictment only as a co-conspirator who wasn’t charged.

The Georgia document, however, identifies him by name as one of 19 defendants who operated as a “criminal organization.”

After the 2020 election, they “refused to accept that Trump lost, and they knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump,” the indictment said.

Some of Eastman’s charges center on an election lawsuit filed in Georgia. He and Trump, for example, face a felony charge of filing false documents because, prosecutors said, they had reason to know the suit contained materially false statements, such as a claim that at least 10,315 dead people had voted in the Georgia presidential election.

The indictment said Eastman sent an email to Trump campaign attorneys acknowledging he knew at least some of the allegations weren’t accurate.

Electors in states Trump lost

New Mexico surfaces occasionally in the indictment. It’s one of seven states where Republican electors gathered to cast votes for Trump even though he hadn’t won their state.

In New Mexico and Pennsylvania, the GOP electors included a caveat stating that they cast their votes in case they were later recognized as the duly elected, qualified electors.

Trump lost New Mexico — a reliably Democratic state — by more than 10 percentage points, or 99,720 votes. Post-election audits that include hand tallying have repeatedly confirmed the accuracy of New Mexico’s voting machines.

The Georgia indictment repeatedly connects Eastman to the strategy of convening GOP electors in states Trump lost. He is accused of participating in phone calls to Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and others as Trump sought to overturn his election loss.

Oval Office meeting

The indictment also accuses Eastman of joining Trump at an Oval Office meeting in which they argued to Pence that he could reject electoral votes from certain states or delay the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress, when the votes were to be counted.

Eastman admitted both options would violate federal law, the indictment alleges.

The 98-page indictment was handed up last week in Fulton County Superior in Georgia.