Judge orders more Eastman emails released

Oct. 19 (UPI) -- A California federal judge has ordered John Eastman, a former attorney for President Donald Trump, to release more emails to House investigators.

U.S. District Judge David Carter ruled Wednesday that Eastman's communications with Trump were made in furtherance of the former president's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Carter ordered Eastman to turn over 33 emails to the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol.

"The emails show that President Trump knew that the specific numbers of voter fraud were wrong but continued to tout those numbers, both in court and to the public," Carter said. "The Court finds that these emails are sufficiently related to and in furtherance of a conspiracy to defraud the United States."

Judge Carter has already released many of Eastman's emails but there is still a dispute over 562 additional documents Eastman's Chapman University email account.

Eight of the documents relate to the crimes of obstructing an official proceeding and conspiracy to defraud the United States, the Hill reported.

Carter's new order cited one email where Trump's attorneys state that "merely having this case pending in the Supreme Court, and not ruled on, may be enough to delay consideration of Georgia," according to CNN.

"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," Carter said.

Eastman must also hand over portions of materials related to his proposal for then-Vice President Mike Pence to disrupt certification of the 2020 election.