Trump ‘coup memo’ lawyer wanted to challenge Senate election results in Georgia after Jan 6 failure

Eastman is credited with hatching Trump’s failed plan to keep Congress from certifying his 2020 election loss

The ex-law professor who hatched former president Donald Trump’s failed plan to keep Congress from certifying his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden continued arguing for Republicans loyal to Mr Trump to press on with searches for alleged election fraud after Mr Trump’s term ended.

According to the New York Times, former Chapman University law professor John Eastman sent an email to Trump lawyer Rudolph Giuliani on 20 January 2021 — the day Mr Biden was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States — advocating that Republicans challenge the results of the recent Georgia special elections in which Peach State voters had elected two Democratic senators.

“A lot of us have now staked our reputations on the claims of election fraud, and this would be a way to gather proof,” Mr Eastman wrote, according to the Times. “If we get proof of fraud on Jan. 5, it will likely also demonstrate the fraud on Nov. 3, thereby vindicating President Trump’s claims and serving as a strong bulwark against Senate impeachment trial”.

Mr Eastman’s 20 January email is evidence that he and other Trump allies knew the claims of election fraud on which they’d based their failed case against certifying Mr Biden’s victory were false.

The ex-law professor also reportedly asked Mr Giuliani for assistance in collecting legal fees amounting to $270,000, which he said were incurred while working to overturn the election on Mr Trump’s behalf.

Mr Eastman, whose conduct has played a central role in the House January 6 select committee’s recent hearings, is currently a subject in the ongoing Justice Department investigation into Mr Trump’s push to remain in office against the wishes of voters.

In June, federal agents seized his mobile phone, and prosecutors later obtained a warrant allowing the phone to be searched.