John Eastman, a defendant named alongside former President Donald Trump and 17 others in a racketeering indictment in Fulton County, Georgia, has been outspoken about the case.
Mr. Eastman served as an attorney for President Trump, and helped organize the alternate slate of electors in Georgia in 2020. These actions constituted a “criminal racketeering enterprise,” alleged prosecutor Fani Willis, the district attorney for Fulton County. In addition to violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, the indictment lists 40 more charges total.
“We did nothing wrong, we were challenging an election with more than credible grounds on which to do so and we thought it was important to do that,” Mr. Eastman said. “So I keep speaking the truth wherever I go.”
“There’s nothing that was done wrong here,” he added.
“I think if we get a fair trial in Fulton County, whether that’s in state court or federal court, I’m confident that we’ll be fully vindicated,” Mr. Eastman said. “Not just me, but all defendants.”
Indicted Attorneys
Mr. Eastman is one of several attorneys who were named in the Georgia indictment, which some of the other attorneys have called unconstitutional.“Yesterday I was indicted for being a lawyer!” Rudy Giuliani, former New York City mayor and also a lawyer for President Trump when he pushed for election integrity investigations, said on his own podcast.
Attorneys Sidney Powell, Robert Cheeley, Ray Smith, and Kenneth Chesebro were also indicted.
“Fani Willis has done the most objectionable thing you can do. She has attacked constitutional pillars in this indictment. And most assuredly, she has sought to destroy the importance of the attorney-client privilege—the right to counsel,” he said.
Separate Cases
Two of the attorneys, Ms. Powell and Mr. Chesebro, have already filed to sever their cases from the rest and also separately filed demands for a speedy trial. President Trump has also severed his cases from theirs, his attorney stating that he would not be ready to go to trial in as soon as two months.Mr. Chesebro is the only defendant with a trial date set, for Oct. 23, and Ms. Willis requested the court combine Ms. Powell’s trial with Mr. Chesebro’s at the very least, if it would not let her try all 19 defendants together.
Mr. Chesebro’s and Ms. Powell’s legal teams both filed motions opposing the idea.
Ms. Powell’s attorney echoed the line of reasoning.
“Ms. Powell can receive a fair trial only if she is tried alone. The prejudice that would inure to her from a lengthy trial with any of those she was not involved and about the vast number of events she had no knowledge of or connection with would deny her Due Process,” her attorney Brian Rafferty wrote.
