(Photo
by
Alex
Wong/Getty
Images)
Nine
days
ago,
US
District
Judge
David
Carter
ordered
John
Eastman
to
disclose
several
more
emails
to
the
January
6
Select
Committee,
finding
that
the
crime-fraud
exception
abrogated
attorney-client
privilege.
Specifically,
he
found
that
Trump
and
his
lawyers
knew
that
they
were
incorporating
false
claims
about
illegal
voters
in
Georgia
in
an
election
lawsuit,
and,
furthermore,
that
the
case
was
only
filed
“to
disrupt
or
delay
the
January
6
congressional
proceedings
through
the
courts.”
He
then
ordered
Eastman
to
disclose
the
disputed
emails
by
2:00
pm
Pacific
on
October
28,
2022,
i.e.
in
a
few
short
hours.
Last
night,
Eastman
filed
a
motion
for
reconsideration
and/or
stay
pending
appeal,
although
no
such
appeal
has
yet
been
noticed
to
the
Ninth
Circuit.
“Dr.
Eastman
respectfully
submits
that
the
relevant
context
shows
that
this
ruling
was
clearly
erroneous,”
his
lawyers
wrote.
In
their
telling,
the
court
is
simply
confused
and
taking
things
out
of
context.
That’s
right
…
he’s
going
with
the
Shaggy
defense.
“Dr.
Eastman
submits
that
the
full
email
record
clearly
shows
that
the
President’s
lawyers
took
great
care
to
ensure
all
court
filings
were
accurate,”
his
lawyers
insist,
adding
that
“Dr.
Eastman
submits
that
the
full
email
record
demonstrates
that
the
legal
filings
were
all
designed
to
obtain
a
ruling
from
the
court
on
the
contested
election
challenges.”
In
support
of
this
proposition,
the
plaintiff
filed
an
affidavit
under
seal
drawing
the
court’s
attention
to
several
other
emails
which
will
somehow
make
it
clear
that
everything
was
on
the
up
and
up.
Sure,
Eastman
did
write
“Although
the
President
signed
a
verification
for
[the
state
court
filing]
back
on
Dec.
1,
he
has
since
been
made
aware
that
some
of
the
allegations
(and
evidence
proffered
by
the
experts)
has
been
inaccurate.
For
him
to
sign
a
new
verification
with
that
knowledge
(and
incorporation
by
reference)
would
not
be
accurate.”
And,
okay,
Trump
did
go
on
to
sign
the
verification
incorporating
the
false
claims
and
which
he
purportedly
“believed
to
be
true
and
correct.”
But
if
Judge
Carter
will
simply
examine
the
emails
he
already
looked
at
during
this
privilege
review
some
more,
he’ll
understand
that
Trump
believes
a
lot
of
crazy
shit
when
it’s
in
his
best
interests,
and
so
he
wasn’t
lying
in
a
court
document
with
the
connivance
of
his
counsel.
Unfortunately
for
Eastman,
the
court
made
it
clear
that
it
looked
at
the
entire
context
to
arrive
at
the
conclusion
that
the
purpose
of
filing
the
Georgia
lawsuit
was
“in
furtherance
of
the
obstruction
In
one
email,
for
example,
President
Trump’s
attorneys
state
that
“[m]erely
having
this
case
pending
in
the
Supreme
Court,
not
ruled
on,
might
be
enough
to
delay
consideration
of
Georgia.”
This
email,
read
in
context
with
other
documents
in
this
review,
make
clear
that
President
Trump
filed
certain
lawsuits
not
to
obtain
legal
relief,
but
to
disrupt
or
delay
the
January
6
congressional
proceedings
through
the
courts.
[Emphasis
added.]
Which
doesn’t
seem
like
the
writings
of
a
court
which
is
inclined
to
swoop
in
and
grant
relief
pending
an
appeal
which
hasn’t
even
been
filed,
but
hope
springs
eternal.
Eastman
v.
Thompson
[Docket
via
Court
Listener]
Liz
Dye lives
in
Baltimore
where
she
writes
about
law
and
politics.