Conservative lawyer John Eastman has turned himself in to authorities on charges in the Georgia case alleging an illegal plot to overturn former US president Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss.
Eastman was booked at the Fulton County jail and is expected to have an arraignment set in the coming weeks in the sprawling racketeering case.
He was indicted last week alongside Mr Trump and 17 others, who are accused by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis of scheming to subvert the will of Georgia voters in a desperate bid to keep Joe Biden out of the White House. It was the fourth criminal case brought against the Republican former president.
Mr Trump, whose bond was set at 200,000 US dollars (£157,000) on Monday, has said he will surrender to authorities in Fulton County on Thursday.
His bond conditions prohibit him from intimidating co-defendants, witnesses or victims in the case, including on social media. He has a history of attacking the prosecutors leading the cases against him, including Ms Willis, often using racist language and stereotypes.
Eastman said in a statement provided by his lawyers that he was surrendering “to an indictment that should never have been brought”. He lambasted the indictment for targeting “attorneys for their zealous advocacy on behalf of their clients” and said each of the 19 defendants was entitled to rely on the advice of lawyers and past legal precedent to challenge the results of the election.
A former dean of Chapman University law school in Southern California, Eastman was a close adviser to Mr Trump in the run-up to the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by the president’s supporters intent on halting the certification of Mr Biden’s electoral victory.
He wrote a memo laying out steps then vice president Mike Pence could take to interfere in the counting of electoral votes while presiding over Congress’ joint session on January 6 in order to keep Mr Trump in office.
The indictment alleges that Eastman and others pushed to put in place a slate of “alternate” electors falsely certifying that Mr Trump won and tried to pressure Mr Pence into rejecting or delaying the counting of legitimate electoral votes for Democrat Mr Biden.
Bail bondsman Scott Hall, who was accused of participating in a breach of election equipment in rural Coffee County, also turned himself in to the Fulton County Jail on Tuesday morning.
Two other defendants, former Justice Department lawyer Jeffrey Clark and former Georgia Republican Party chairman David Shafer, have filed paperwork to transfer the case to federal court.
Ms Willis has filed paperwork in Fulton County Superior Court, where the indictment was filed, seeking a March 4 trial date. Legal manoeuvring, such as the attempts to move the case to federal court, could make it difficult to start a trial that soon.
Lawyers for Clark argued in a court filing on Monday that he was a high-ranking Justice Department official and the actions described in the indictment “relate directly to his work at the Justice Department as well as with the former President of the United States”.
Shafer’s lawyers argued that his conduct “stems directly from his service as a Presidential Elector nominee”, actions they say were “at the direction of the President and other federal officers”.
Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows last week made similar arguments in a federal court filing, saying his actions were taken in service to his White House role.
Meadows filed an emergency motion on Tuesday in an attempt to avoid having to turn himself in to the Fulton County Jail by the deadline of noon on Friday. He asked the judge to ensure that outcome by immediately ruling that his case can be moved to federal court or by issuing an order prohibiting Ms Willis from arresting him before Monday’s hearing.
Meadows’ motion says Ms Willis rejected a request for an extension on Tuesday morning. She said in an email that “at 12.30pm Friday I shall file warrants in the system,” he said.
The judge has ordered Ms Willis’ team to respond to Meadows’ motion by 3pm on Wednesday.
Clark was a staunch supporter of Mr Trump’s false claims of election fraud and in December 2020 presented colleagues with a draft letter pushing Georgia officials to convene a special legislative session on the election results, according to evidence before the US House committee that investigated the January 6 Capitol riot. Clark wanted the letter sent, but Justice Department superiors refused.
Shafer was one of 16 Georgia Republicans who signed a certificate declaring falsely that Mr Trump had won the 2020 presidential election and declaring themselves the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors even though Mr Biden had won the state and a slate of Democratic electors was certified.
Lawyers for Shafer and the district attorney’s office agreed on Tuesday to a bond of 75,000 dollars. Also on Tuesday, a court filing showed that bond has been set at 10,000 dollars for Shawn Still, another of the fake electors who was elected to the Georgia state Senate in November 2022 and represents a district in Atlanta’s suburbs.
