‘Serpent’ in Trump’s ear John Eastman at center of Jan. 6 hearings has North Texas roots
North Texas has had its share of residents charged with crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection attempt at the U.S. Capitol.
The House committee investigating Jan. 6, which has been laying out details over the past week during televised hearings, have revealed some surprising bits of information — including that one of the few remaining lawyers advising former President Donald Trump in the waning days of his presidency was a man with deep roots to North Texas.
John Eastman graduated from Lewisville High School in 1978 and received an undergraduate degree from the University of Dallas in 1982. The bipartisan Jan. 6 Committee has drawn a stark portrait of Eastman as the leading voice in Trump’s ear in their fight to spread unfounded claims of a rigged 2020 presidential election. Perhaps only fellow legal advisor Rudy Giuliani helped Trump spread the conspiracy of illegal votes and invalid ballots more than Eastman, according to the narrative laid out by the committee, which is a U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.
Eastman earned a law degree from the University of Chicago before clerking for U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Judge J. Michael Luttig and for Justice Clarence Thomas at the Supreme Court. For much of the past 25 years, however, he has worked as as constitutional law professor and dean at the Chapman University School of Law in Orange, Calif. He founded the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, a law firm affiliated with the Claremont Institute, a conservative think tank.
After rioters had breached the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, Eastman exchanged emails with Greg Jacob, then Vice President Mike Pence’s legal counselor. Jacob was with Pence and Pence’s family inside the Capitol preparing to certify the election as rioters chanted “Hang Pence!” and set up a gallows and noose in front of the Capitol.
“Amid the chaos,” Politico reported, “Eastman exchanged tense emails with Jacob. Pence’s counsel accused Eastman, in one remarkably blunt missive, of being ‘a serpent in the ear of the president of the United States.’”
This story was originally published June 17, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
