John Eastman disbarment hearing: Election expert disputes Eastman’s famous Jan. 6 memo

After surrendering to authorities in Atlanta on Tuesday, attorney John Eastman’s disbarment trial resumed Thursday in California, where prosecutors presented the six-page memo Eastman wrote that proposed unilateral action that then-Vice President Mike Pence could allegedly take during the certification of electoral votes on Jan.6

Duncan Carling, trial counsel for the California State Bar, said that Eastman “claimed there is historical precedent in early American history” to justify his legal theories regarding the 2020 election.

The prosecutor’s witness, Matthew Seligman, a lawyer and Stanford expert on elections, testified that “there is no historical precedent” where the President of the Senate can postpone the electoral count.

Prosecutors read through multiple parts of Eastman’s memo and asked Seligman if there was any evidence or historical precedent to support Eastman’s position.

Eastman was present at court for the hearing.

Seligman said that the historical incidents Eastman refers to in his memo titled “January 6 scenario” are not examples of a Vice President being able to take “unilateral action” to reject state electors and delay Congress’ count of Electoral College votes.

“Has there ever been a time a vice president has delayed a count for any reason?” Carling asked.

“No,” Seligman responded.

Seligman added that he reviewed the count of electoral votes from every election in U.S. history and said that there’s no evidence to support Eastman's argument that the vice president can choose which electors to accept and reject or resolve disputes.

“No vice president in American History has ever rejected a single slate of electors,” Seligman said.

Prosecutors went on to ask Seligman about the so-called fake electors who tried to falsely certify Donald Trump as the winner in several states.

Carling presented a letter from Eastman to former Wisconsin Rep. Timothy Ranthum, where Eastman said that “state legislatures ... do have the authority to de-certify the election of presidential electors.”

Eastman has requested an abatement of the trial due to his Georgia criminal case, but Judge Roland said she would not rule on that yet.

The trial will resume on Friday where Eastman's lawyers will have a chance to question Seligman.