Former Trump lawyer John Eastman was officially disbarred this week, losing his law license in the state of California. This is a tremendous blow to both Eastman and Donald Trump, as the decisions from both the Court and state bar to remove Eastman can easily be used against Trump in some of his criminal trials. On top of that, it should serve as a stark warning to all of the other lawyers that still believe that helping Trump will bolster their careers. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins explains what happened.
Transcript:
*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.
Former Donald Trump lawyer and of course author of the infamous coup memo that outlined the instructions for the fake electors to be delivered to Mike Pence and Mike Pence could use this legal reasoning to overturn the election results and declare Trump the winner. Yeah, that guy was officially disbarred in the state of California this week, meaning that John Eastman has lost his law license in California. As we all know, last week, the judge that was overseeing the disbarment hearings did in fact rule that Eastman should be disbarred. But that ruling was not necessarily binding. It was still up to the state bar of California to make the final decision, which they did this week when they said that you are disbarred. Now, Eastman, of course, is appealing this decision and we’ll see what happens upon appeal.
But the reason this is such an important story is because the judge in the massive ruling that was handed down about him being recommended for disbarment, said that not only did Eastman, well, you know what? I’ll read it. Eastman’s wrongdoing was committed directly in the course and scope of his representation of President Trump and the Trump campaign. Eastman’s actions transgressed those ethical limits by advocating, participating in and pursuing a strategy to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election that lacked evidentiary or legal support. In view of the circumstances surrounding Eastman’s misconduct and balancing the aggravation and mitigation, the court recommends that Eastman be disbarred. Eastman’s unwillingness to acknowledge ethical lapses regarding his actions, demonstrating an apparent inability to accept responsibility.
That statement is horrific for Donald Trump because Donald Trump, when he goes to court, is gonna try to argue that, hey, I was just getting bad advice from my lawyers. Everybody knows that. I’m not a lawyer. My lawyers were telling me to do the bad things. This ruling, believe it or not, negates that. And this ruling will 100 percent be brought up probably in the Georgia trial, as well as the January 6th trial that Donald Trump is still facing because the prosecutors are gonna march into court and they’re gonna say, look at this. Look at this ruling from this other court. This other court says that, yeah, Eastman was giving him bad advice, but he was doing it because Trump pressed him to do it. So you can’t use a defense of counsel argument when you are the one who forced your counsel to come up with the argument, folks. So yeah, this is real bad for John Eastman, but it’s even worse for Donald Trump. And I gotta tell you, there’s another group of people that this is also really bad for.
This is bad for anybody that is currently or on the fence about possibly becoming in the future, one of Donald Trump’s lawyers. This is what happens to you. Because as we all know, Eastman is not the only one currently facing a disbarment hearing. We have other former Trump lawyers who are still awaiting the results of their disbarment hearings. We have had lawyers sanctioned, we have had lawyers sued, we have had them punished by the courts. Like, Sidney Powell having to take a remedial law class in Michigan because of the frivolous lawsuits. We’ve got Rudy Giuliani, who is financially destroyed now and facing criminal charges and facing massive defamation lawsuits. We have Michael Cohen, who actually had to go to prison for the work he did for Donald Trump. If you are one of Trump’s lawyers, I’ve said it a million times, I’ll say it a million more, you’re not gonna get your happily ever after. No, no.
You see what’s happening to Eastman. You saw what happened to Cohen. You see what happened to Sidney Powell, to Rudy Giuliani, to Lin Wood. If you get involved with Donald Trump, your life will become hell. I know Alina Habba is like living the high life right now, thinking everything is awesome, and oh, this is so great and I’ve made millions off Donald Trump. Trust me, Alina, when it’s all said and done, all of that’ll be gone, and you’ll be left with less than nothing. And if you don’t believe me, look at every other lawyer that’s represented this man for the last 10 years. You point to one, I mean, Jenna Ellis is another one, folks, Christina Bobb, you point to one of these people that is enjoying their life today, and you can’t. This is what happens to Trump’s lawyers, and Eastman is just the latest in a long line that shows, you work for Trump, you’re gonna be the one paying the price.