Lawyer who hatched a plan to throw the 2020 election to Trump pleads the 5th in Congress' Capitol
Source: Business Insider
A lawyer and former Supreme Court clerk who advised former President Donald Trump will invoke his 5th Amendment rights in response to a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot.
John Eastman's lawyer, Charles Burnham, sent a letter to committee chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson on December 1 saying, "Dr. Eastman hereby asserts his Fifth Amendment right not to be a witness against himself in response to your subpoena."
-snip-
"Members of this very Committee have openly spoken of making criminal referrals to the Department of Justice and described the Committee's work in terms of determining 'guilt or innocence,'" the letter said. "Dr. Eastman has a more than reasonable fear that any statements he makes pursuant to this subpoena will be used in an attempt to mount a criminal investigation against him."
Eastman is the second witness who has invoked or plans to invoke their 5th Amendment privileges in response to a committee subpoena. Earlier this week, a lawyer representing the former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark informed the committee that his client will do the same. The panel said it expects Clark to come in on Saturday and formally assert his claim.
Read more: https://www.businessinsider.com/john-eastman-plead-5th-amendment-january-6-committee-subpoena-2021-12
Full title: Lawyer who hatched a plan to throw the 2020 election to Trump pleads the 5th in Congress' Capitol riot probe
C_U_L8R
(44,897 posts)Turn on the cameras and bright lights and make this traitor squirm.
sdfernando
(4,897 posts)All the witnesses MUST appear before the committee and respond to each question whether it be they answer or they plead the 5th, they must do it and it should be in public and on camera!
Walleye
(30,724 posts)OnDoutside
(19,908 posts)Walleye
(30,724 posts)Put the asshole under oath and make him answer every question with, I refuse to answer, either that or give him immunity this is crap. Ive never heard of people invoking the fifth before they were even testifying. Sick of these scofflaws flouting everything that the rest of us have to obey. Treat him like a mob boss underling, thats what he is
bluestarone
(16,722 posts)SoCalDavidS
(9,998 posts)Bernardo de La Paz
(48,789 posts)bluestarone
(16,722 posts)I believe their (TFG and company) plan, is to completely fill up our courts waiting on decisions. Plus installing THEIR judges causing lots of problems in our future!
hot2na
(353 posts)He cant just say that he pleads the 5th and not show up. He has to show up and if there are any questions that actually may incriminate him, then he can plead the 5th. If this is the case then anyone who gets a subpoena can just plead the 5th and not show up.
I'm not a lawyer but my understanding is that he has to show up and answer questions. If he is asked a question that would not incriminate himself, he must answer the question.
Eyeball_Kid
(7,410 posts)he then has no justification for not testifying. And he won't be able to plead the Fifth. If he still doesn't answer questions, he can then be cited for criminal contempt and be subjected to a jail sentence.
turbinetree
(24,632 posts)and this organization has no fucking comment....why is that, because they run around and say they are a "non partisan debate club".....BS.....how many judges are now on the bench....I can name six sitting on the US Supreme Court.....
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/01/john-eastman-federalist-society-capitol-insurrection.html
they even have a tax exempt status.....
The Federalist Society is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Our federal tax identification number is 36-3235550.Apr 9, 2018
https://fedsoc.org/planned-giving#:~:text=The%20Federalist%20Society%20is%20a,identification%20number%20is%2036%2D3235550.
So they can go to these non partisan debate clubs and foment what .... this BS
Just lock him up he admits it, just think if trump had won this "guy" would be locking up people that trump wanted locked up....let's not kid ourselves ......
muriel_volestrangler
(101,154 posts)right to refuse to take the witness stand, "in any other situation, the
privilege [against self-incrimination] does not permit a person to avoid
being sworn as a witness or being asked questions. Rather the person
must listen to the questions and specifically invoke the privilege
rather than answer the questions."
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/33139585.pdf
Taken from: https://www.casemine.com/judgement/us/5914c107add7b049347b728b
And there seems to be another crap Trump lawyer (the one he thought about making Attorney General to run his coup) planning to use this, and a proper lawyer has already called 'bullshit':
Which is his right, of course. But he can't just shout "I PLEAD THE FIFTH" and wander off. He'll have to answer every question by either invoking his right against self-incrimination, or explaining exactly what privilege he thinks allows him to refuse to answer. And if he tries that shit he pulled last month, he's getting the Bannon treatment.
Good thing he hired that Kraken lawyer to keep him out of trouble, right?
https://www.wonkette.com/trump-doj-lawyer-jeffrey-clark-lands-it-like-hindenberg-with-jan-6-committee
justhanginon
(3,287 posts)brought to Washington D.C. and foisted off on the American people as government. Not one of the toxic criminal scum that he ever appointed or even associated with including his immediate family should ever be allowed to disgrace the halls of our capitol again. If I had my way they would all be deported to a place to be determined later and not neccessarily limited this planet.
Stuart G
(38,365 posts)....Let the jury decide if he "incited a riot"...and guess what???
You know the answer on that one...If he is charged, he will be convicted. Just like the Trumper & his crowd..
"The Time is Coming the Walrus Said,
For Cabbages and Kings"';
As stated earlier, Trump will be charged by NY Atty General., (tax evasion)
There will be a trial, and Mr. Trump will lose.
It will be very ugly..
Mr. Trump hasn't got a clue, ..says Stu.
Just wait and see......
How happy we will all be...
VWolf
(3,944 posts)Eyeball_Kid
(7,410 posts)Lawyer calls into the 1/6 Committee to say that his client will invoke the Fifth.
NO... Eastman is NOT on the record as invoking the Fifth because he hasn't been asked any questions. Thompson knows this and he MUST ignore the letter and proceed with a criminal referral. The letter means nothing.
Botany
(70,291 posts)...do in order to break the law and violate the US Constitution to stay in power. My friend who is a
lawyer when talking about Eastman is rule #1 as a lawyer is if you are going to break the law do not
put it on paper.
Slammer
(714 posts)As I understand the law and Constitutional issues:
He can show up and plead the 5th to every last question which is put to him.
However, he cannot refuse to show up by saying that every last question which the committee could possibly choose to ask him would be unanswerable due to the 5th.
He cannot possibly have an encyclopedic knowledge of every question which might possibly be asked of him by each of the persons on the committee. And every question could not possibly be used to incriminate him.
"White House records show you were on vacation on August 5th. Were you on vacation at that time?"
"What did you think about the mental state of the president in the days after the election?"
"What's your favorite color?"
cstanleytech
(26,082 posts)TexasTowelie
(111,313 posts)chain of command or least substantiate more severe crimes from other insurrectionists. If he can't provide such testimony, then there isn't a reason to grant immunity. It's difficult to reach a plea bargain when there is nothing to be offered in return.