Eastman appears before Atlanta-area grand jury probing Trump election scheme

Eastman is the newest member of Trump’s interior circle within the chaotic aftermath of the 2020 election to face questions from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for his position to overturn the election ends in Georgia. Eastman, together with different Trump-aligned attorneys, pushed state legislatures to nominate pro-Trump presidential electors in a handful of states the place Joe Biden was the licensed winner, making a battle that that they had hoped then-Vice President Mike Pence would resolve on Jan. 6 in Trump’s favor.

But no state legislatures adopted swimsuit, and as a substitute Eastman and his allies helped assemble a gaggle of GOP get together officers and activists to pose as presidential electors and submit signed certificates to Congress. Pence in the end rejected the push, regardless of withering stress from Trump and his associates.

Eastman had also asserted his Fifth Amendment rights when the House choose committee investigating the Jan. 6 rebel known as him to testify final yr. The panel’s investigators later revealed Eastman sought, but did not receive, a pardon within the aftermath of the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol by means of Trump legal professional Rudy Giuliani.

Willis has, in current weeks, sought testimony from prime figures in Trump’s orbit, together with former White House and marketing campaign palms Mark Meadows, Boris Epstheyn, Jenna Ellis and Rudy Giuliani. Willis instructed reporters in Atlanta on Monday that she had interviewed about 60 p.c of the witnesses she intends to query and that she’s hopeful to wind down the probe by the tip of the calendar yr.

Willis has knowledgeable Giuliani that he’s a goal of her probe, together with the 16 Georgia Republicans who signed false elector certificates.

A spokesperson for the Fulton County district legal professional’s workplace declined to remark.