US District Judge David Carter Wednesday ordered the release of emails exchanged between former President Donald Trump and his attorney Dr. John Eastman regarding the January 6 Capitol Attack. The US House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack originally subpoenaed the documents in January 2021.
Eastman assisted Trump with legal and political strategies regarding the 2020 election while working as a professor at Chapman University in California. The select committee subpoenaed documents from Eastman for its investigation of the Capitol Attack. Some of these documents included emails between Trump and Eastman from Eastman’s Chapman account.
Eastman argued that the documents and emails exchanged were privileged under the work product doctrine and attorney-client privilege. Work product prevents the disclosure of documents prepared in anticipation of litigation and prepared by or for a party or representative. Attorney-client privilege similarly prevents the disclosure of confidential communications between attorneys and their clients, so long as such communication is for the purpose of obtaining legal advice.
Carter ruled that most of the contested documents were protected by either work product or attorney-client privilege. However, four emails exchanged were not protected by attorney-client privilege because of the crime-fraud exception. This exception removes the attorney-client privilege from communications in which a client consults an attorney for advice that will serve them in the commission of a crime or fraud, and the communications are sufficiently related to and made in furtherance of the crime.
Carter stated in the order that these emails “made clear” that Trump filed certain lawsuits not to obtain legal relief but to disrupt or delay the January 6 congressional vote certification through the courts. The order also stated that the emails demonstrated an effort by Trump and his attorneys to press false claims in federal court for the purpose of delaying the January 6 vote certification.
Last week, the select committee held its ninth hearing and voted to subpoena Trump to sit for testimony and produce documents.
