A day before mobs stormed the Capitol in 2021, an Orange County law professor said: John Eastman He was trying to convince Mike Pence’s attorney that the Vice President held powers that none of his predecessors had exercised in American history.

Eastman was in Washington, D.C. as a legal adviser to then-President Trump. As Senate Speaker, Pence argued that he could unilaterally deny electoral votes from seven battleground states suspected of fraud, according to Gregory Jacob, who was Pence’s chief adviser at the time.

Jacob said the vice president flatly rejected the bill as unconstitutional. “From the first meeting, he suggested that it didn’t make sense for him to have such authority,” Jacob testified. A trial was held remotely last week in California State Bar Court in Los Angeles to determine whether Eastman should retain his license to practice law.

Even Eastman conceded that the Supreme Court would likely unanimously reject the theory, Jacob said. But Eastman continued to insist that Pence had the power to delay voter certification, which Jacob believed contributed to the violence on January 6. He said the rioters were mistakenly thinking that a “grave decision” was being made that would determine the presidency. Pence’s hand of the day.

“I’ve seen video footage of them yelling ‘Stop Mike Pence,'” Jacob said. “The vice president was my boss,” he said. Mobs “believed that the vice president had the power to decide the election in Trump’s favour, or at least the power to steer things in that direction.” ‘ said.

Jacob suggested that surfacing far-flung academic theories in the safety of legal review articles is one thing. It was another story when he brought up this theory when advising the president during a national crisis.

“I was angry with my profession,” said Jacob. “I thought it would bring down the reputation of our profession.”

Jacob was one of several witnesses called in the California court’s case against Eastman. Among them were election officials from Arizona, Pennsylvania and Nevada. Officials detailed audits, counting machine tests and other procedures to ensure the integrity of the ballot counts in states that Mr. Eastman mocked as being tainted.

Mr. Eastman, a former dean and professor at Chapman University Law School, has taken the stand on and off the stand unapologetically and defiantly against probing questions from attorney Duncan Carling.

In the aftermath of the election, Mr. Eastman argued that the battleground states in which Mr. Biden was declared the winner have the power to revoke their electoral certification and elect Trump-friendly alternates.

When Carling asked what impact such a plan would have had, Eastman replied, “It’s uncharted territory.”

State attorneys accused Eastman of ethics violations, pressured Pence to reject the electorate, promoted false claims that Trump’s election was victimized by election fraud, and created fake electoral rolls. He was charged with ethics violations for kicking up and inciting a mob. falsely.

Mr. Eastman has defended himself by exercising his First Amendment rights and acting as a staunch defender of his client, Mr. Trump. He argues that sensible lawyers should not be penalized for promoting legal theories that they believe are feasible.

The lawyer trial is expected to last until at least this week. Eastman faces difficulties beyond the possibility of losing his attorney license.

Eastman repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right to self-incrimination when he appeared before a House committee on Jan. 6. The FBI has seized his cell phone, and the commission recommended that the Justice Department consider prosecuting him for “obstructing official process” and “conspiring to defraud the United States.”

U.S. District Judge David O. Carter ruled that Eastman “likely committed” crimes related to the 2020 election. Additionally, Eastman could be subject to criminal investigations related to Georgia’s by-election system.

Testifying last week in Mr. Eastman’s attorney trial, Jacob, the vice president’s former attorney, said he was steadfast in Mr. Pence’s view that Mr. Eastman’s electoral vote denial proposal was baseless. Jacob said no vice president in U.S. history has exercised such power, nor has he expressed any belief that he has that power.

Jacob said the constitution-makers had a zeal for checks and balances, detested George III’s one-man rule, and wanted such power to be in the hands of one person, Pence said. said he never believed. Rather, Jacob said Pence views his vote-counting role as a “minister.”

Jacob said there was voter “fraud” in various states, but there was no evidence big enough to tip the election.

Leading up to the Jan. 6 vote count, Trump repeatedly implied that Pence had the power to stay in office by sending votes back to the states. On the night of January 5, President Trump tweeted, “If Vice President Mike Pence comes out to replace us, we will be elected president.”

On January 6th, violence erupted in Washington shortly after Eastman spoke at a “Stop the Steel” rally in Washington. California court attorneys point to emails exchanged between Eastman and Jacob that day as part of the lawsuit.

“I share your concerns about what the Democrats will do once they take power,” Jacob wrote. “I would like the fairness of the election to be set right. and I respectfully conclude that it’s something the opposition can never support if they try and is essentially a complete hoax and thanks to your shit we are now under siege .”

Mr Eastman replied that “we have conclusive evidence that the election was stolen” and blamed the “siege” on Mr Pence’s failure to do “what was necessary”.

Jacob apologized for his “unthankful” language, but added that Eastman’s advice was “a snake in the ears of the President of the United States.” “It is grossly irresponsible to seduce the president with an academic theory that is not legally viable,” he said.

Jacob asked Eastman if he told Trump that Pence did not have the authority to unilaterally decide the election. This is what Trump and his representatives have publicly claimed.

Eastman replied that he had told Trump that, but added, “You know, once he has something on his mind, it’s hard to turn around.” Eastman added, “When this thing is over, we should go somewhere to have a nice dinner and a nice glass of wine.”