OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
A federal judge has made a decision in the case of former attorney for former President Donald Trump, John Eastman, in his effort to get his phone back from the Department of Justice.
On Friday the judge denied Eastman’s request to get back the phone that was taken by the Department of Justice pursuant to a search warrant into the January 6, 2021 incident at the Capitol, Politico reported.
“Eastman wholly fails to show and in fact disclaims any need for the actual phone,” New Mexico-based Senior U.S. District Court Judge Robert Brack said in his decision.
The FBI seized Eastman’s phones when agents confronted him outside of a restaurant in June.
The judge said that his claim that it caused “irreparable harm.” Was not true as the attorney had obtained a replacement phone.
FBI agents investigating efforts by Trump allies to overturn the 2020 election seized Eastman’s phone in June as he exited a restaurant in New Mexico, where he lives. Eastman was a key architect of Trump’s plan to appoint false presidential electors and pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to consider them on Jan. 6, 2021, when he presided over the certification of the election results by Congress.
Eastman, who also failed to fend off an effort by congressional investigators to access a large cache of his emails, argued in his original complaint that FBI investigators might access privileged information on his phone. But after seizing his phone, federal prosecutors obtained a second search warrant that included safeguards to protect privileged material. This development made Eastman’s complaint “practically moot,” Brack noted.
“Eastman’s argument regarding privileged material fails for the same reason that his argument on the purported First Amendment violation fails: he is pressing this issue with the wrong court,” the judge said. “Should Eastman be concerned that the Government has access to material protected by the attorney-client privilege or work-product doctrine, he may file a motion for relief in the District of Columbia.”
Also in June, former Trump aide Peter Navarro was furious after being arrested and indicted by the Department of Justice.
The charge for the 72-year-old amounts to a misdemeanor because he did not appear before congressional investigators to give a deposition about the January 6 incident at the Capitol.
Representatives Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi, and Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming said that they did not know why others were not indicted.
“We find the decision to reward Mark Meadows and Dan Scavino for their continued attack on the rule of law puzzling,” they said. “Mr. Meadows and Mr. Scavino unquestionably have relevant knowledge about President Trump’s role in the efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the events of Jan. 6.”
But speaking in front of the courthouse Navarro likened the indictment to “terrorism,” Mediaite reported.
“I told them [to] contact an individual that would discuss this matter. What did they do? They didn’t call me. I spoke to the FBI agent that arrested me. I spoke to him Wednesday night. I said, “Walter, whatever you need. You don’t have to come banging on my door like you did last week getting me out of bed. I’m here to cooperate.” What did they do? I was on my way to Nashville today to do a TV appearance with Mike Huckabee‘s show, all right?” he said.
“And instead of coming to my door where I live, which by the way is right next to the FBI, instead of calling me and say, ‘Hey, we need you down in court, we’ve got a warrant for you,’ I would have gladly come. What did they do? They intercepted me getting on the plane. Then they put me in handcuffs, they bring me here, they put me in leg irons stick me in a cell,” he argued.
“They responded with effectively the same kind of thing you’d see in Stalin‘s Russia or the Chinese Communist Party,” the former aide said. “I note interestingly for the record, the only two people that have been indicted on criminal charges are me and Steve Bannon.”
“There was no reason on God’s good Earth for what they did today to an American citizen. That did not have to happen. It’s terrorism, it’s coercion. There’s no excuse for what they did today. America needs to know this,” he said.
“Their mission, their clear mission, is to prevent Donald John Trump from running for president in 2024 and being elected president,” he said. “People like me are in their way and they’re not coming for me, they’re coming for you. All 74 million of you who voted for Donald John Trump.”
