Judge recommends John Eastman be disbarred over Jan. 6

John C. Eastman, the attorney for Donald Trump alleged to have colluded with the former president to undermine the results of the 2020 presidential election, has been recommended for disbarment in California, a State Bar judged ruled on Wednesday.

In her 128-page ruling, Judge Yvette D. Roland found that the Office of Chief Trial Counsel proved 10 of the 11 charges against Eastman.

She ordered that Eastman would be listed as involuntarily inactive on March 30, meaning he cannot practice law in California. Eastman can challenge the ruling. The state Supreme Court has the final say on disbarments.

State Bar Court Judge Yvette D. Roland

"Upon consideration of the totality of the facts, the court finds weighty circumstantial evidence demonstrating a collaborative effort between Eastman and President Trump to impede the counting of elector votes on January 6, 2021, as articulated in Eastman's memos," Roland wrote. "There is also extensive direct evidence demonstrating that each party involved in this plan actively participated in overt acts through in person meetings, communications with Vice President Pence and his counsel, and in public remarks to advance their shared objective--i.e., to have Vice President Pence reject or delay the counting of electoral votes on January 6.

"Furthermore, the court has previously determined, in the aforementioned counts, that Eastman's actions were carried out with deceit or dishonesty, as he was aware that his plan was unlawful and lacked any factual or legal support," her ruling continued.

"Every California attorney has the duty to uphold the constitution and the rule of law," Chief Trial Counsel George Cardona said in an emailed statement on Wednesday. "Mr. Eastman repeatedly violated that duty. Worse, he did so in a way that threatened the fundamental principles of our democracy.

"The substantial evidence presented over 35 days of trial showed, and the court has now held, that Mr. Eastman abandoned his ethical and legal duties as an attorney to conspire with then-President Donald Trump to develop and implement a strategy to obstruct the counting of electoral votes on January 6, 2021, and illegally disrupt the peaceful transfer of power to President-elect Joseph Biden, knowing that there was no good faith theory or argument to lawfully reject the electoral votes of any state or delay the January 6 electoral count," Cardona continued. "Mr. Eastman's efforts failed only because our democratic institutions and those committed to upholding them held strong. The harm caused by Mr. Eastman's abandonment of his duties as a lawyer, and the threat his actions posed to our democracy, more than warrant his disbarment."