john eastman has nowhere to go. i agree with barb, he is playing to the court of public opinion, but none of these out of court statements will see the inside of a courtroom unless the prosecutors want to try to admit them as statements of a party opponent. >> barb mcquade, a federal judge today officially ruled that rudolph giuliani did indeed lie about election workers in georgia. that's in a civil case where they are suing him, successfully, now for defamation. the only thing left in that case to decide is how much should the financial damages be against rudolph giuliani. we all saw, on the day he was arrested, that he was peppered with questions about this very matter. and he kept saying that it's irrelevant, this is nothing to do with the criminal case. this admission that he made, that he, in effect, in this civil suit he admitted that he lied about those women, that that has no effect on the criminal case. what is your view of that? >> it's not binding in the criminal case in that jury is not going to be inst

of counsel for that reason, the white house deputy counsel told president trump at the time at john eastmanhis theory does not work. by the way, the opening part of what john floral added which was at the end, he's adding that because he is just heard from mike pence and his counsel. that's not a good idea because they just said, that's not what he initially did, he initially said just throw it out. not qualifier is actually confirmatory and what we just heard mike pence say. just to be clear again, this idea that it needed to go back to the states, that is something that we know from this indictment, that we know from the tape recordings and brad raffensperger, that did not work. this was just a play for time, of can we just get this back and we can go back and continue pressuring the states. because they knew that didn't work. so this was plan b after plan a failed with mike pence which was exactly what mike pence was saying. >> to me, the unprofessionalism of john lauro outside of a courtroom now is just playing on itself. i think andrew's point is right. you saw on other networks today,

and, as promised now, i'm joined by john eastman's attorney. he is representing multiple clients in special counsel's jack smith investigation. but we are focusing on eastman tonight. and i very much appreciate your time, charles. let me just start to try to understand where exactly your client stands. obviously, he's labeled co-conspirator number 2 in the indictment. just to be clear, has your client, john eastman, been indicted at this time? >> no. well, thank you very much for having me on. and absolutely no, john eastman has not been indicted on this time. we very much think he should not be. have you been in touch with the special counsel's office since the indictment was revealed yesterday? >> we have not. >> okay. now, is there any chance that your client would cooperate with the special counsel jack smith? >> well, i think it depends on what you mean by cooperate. dr. eastman is happy to tell his side of the story, to talk about the issues he believes are important to the constitution and the country. and under the right circumstances ce

another person worried about john eastman possibly committing crimes was john eastman. now we know that because john eastman petitioned for a pardon in the waiting days of the trump administration. not even after a week after the insurrection, he spoke to rudy giuliani and said, quote, i've decided that i should be on the pardon list, if that is still in the works. i've decided i should be on the pardon list. you know, come to think of it, maybe that was criminal. that's something you only do if you think you have some criminal exposure, which clearly john eastman thought he had. what is amazing about all that is that this morning as he surrendered in fulton county, he remained or pretended to remain defiant. >> do they do a mugshot? >> no comment. >> do you still think the election was stolen? >> absolutely. >> absolutely? still? >> no question. no question about it. >> okay, maybe you're trying a mentally unfit to stand trial defense, which i think a lot of people are aiming for, possibly. okay, there are 17 more codefendants that need to surrender. i suspect a lot of

john eastman and also scott hall. they have they are, right there.ld trump's

that's what we expect john eastman to do. percentage or the full amount in cash if he so chooses, if he doesn't want to use a bail bonding firm. he also is ordered not to have any communications with other defendants in this case or with any possible witnesses in this case about the facts of this case. so that is all of the things around the 2020 election that he would have been doing for donald trump. we're going to be watching to see if there are other consent bonds that are made between these defense lawyers one by one and the prosecutor's office. and we do believe there are negotiations going on throughout the day, even this afternoon, even for donald trump and his lawyers working with the prosecutors here in georgia. >> go through a little bit just to refresh people's memories of who john eastman is, katelyn. >> reporter: yeah, john eastman has become one of the most central figures in what happened after the election. he was an elections attorney for donald trump. he had a letter saying he was coming aboard the trump ca

john eastman and also scott hall. here they are right there.xpected surrender at the fulton county jail after, of course, being criminally charged, allegedly trying to overturn joe biden's election victory in the state of georgia. meanwhile, mark meadows -- you know who that is, of course. he is trying a now last-ditch by that friday noon dead. and you got a dozen defendants, including the former president. they've all struck bond deals that have been signed by a judge. a dozen is not 19.

john eastman was elections attorney for donald trump and prominent figure in right wing legal circlessentially the architect of some of the efforts that trump made to overturn his loss after the election trying to stop congress, trying to use fake electors to do so and trying to pressure mike pence, and john eastman, we are seeing all of the details as a criminal defendant who has been arrested and over at the jail. he has a book number. they have taken down his age, weight, race, hair color, height. they have listed all of the charges he is facing. now he is expected to be released in due time, and once that arrest is finish and he has been processed, that is because he has negotiated the bond ahead of time and agreed to pay a certain amount to the court system even if he does not appear for trial, but it is sobering moment to see a prominent attorney for donald trump after the election that we have spent so much time discussing what he did, and we have seen him fight the charges or the issues related to the law license and now to see him come through the system as someone who is arr

i'm sure we're going to hear from john eastman soon. one other thing. you just saw emotion from jeffrey clark. what do his lawyers want? remind our viewers who jeffrey clark is. we have a lot of characters in what we're seeing here. >> reporter: 19. yes, jeffrey clark is one of the people who was in the administration at the time -- at the end of the trump presidency and at the time of the election and was essentially wanting to become attorney general or donald trump wanted to install him as attorney general so trump could use the justice department to either pressure or overturn election results in different states, specifically in georgia. jeffrey clark had plans to try and mount the legislator in georgia to overturn what the popular vote was in this state. that's what he's accused of doing. the georgia d.a. says that's a crime. he's also a co-con spear tore in the case that the federal authorities have brought alone in federal court in washington, d.c. here in this case, because jeffrey clark was a federal official at that time working within the ju

okay, so what we have, and many people don't this is a memo from john eastman, an esteemed constitutional scholar laying out a number of scenarios. those scenarios were presented to vice president pence. he considered them, and as a constitutional matter, he rejected them. one of the last and the ultimate requests that president trump made was to pause the voting for ten days to allow the state to recertify or certify or audit. and mr. pence rejected that as well. after that, there was a peaceful transition of power. that's how the constitution works. >> okay, what happened on january 6th was not peaceful. i want to ask you something about john eastman, because you talked a lot about how he's a respected constitutional attorney. >> the transfer of power was certainly peaceful. >> did you see what happened on january 6th? did that look peaceful to you? >> did you -- i'm not saying

fill us in on those details. >> reporter: john eastman's attorney spoke to reporters alongside john eastmaner he was booked, processed and released from the jail behind me. and he described john eastman's experience in the jail as just like anybody else's. he was fingerprinted. he took a mugshot. and so really we're getting our first look into how these defendants, these 18 co-defendants in addition to donald trump are being treated once they are booked inside the fulton county jail. now, john eastman answered some questions from reporters. his attorney seemed to be trying to persuade him not to do so. but he was very -- he was adamant. he said he had every right to file the lawsuits that he filed in an effort to overturn the 2020 election and that he was acting as an attorney for the former president. take a listen to a little bit of what he told reporters this afternoon. >> it represents a crossing of the rubicon for our country, implicating the fundamental first amendment right to petition the government for redress of grievances. as troubling, it targets attorneys for their zealous advo

is only one word to describe that, which is malpractice, because there is a good reason john eastman is being called a co-conspirator and not a constitutional scholar. if eastman were just writing law review articles or as mr. burnham said debating some law professors on podcasts, that would be one thing. but instead, what he did is actively pressure the vice president and state legislatures to go through with the hare-brained scheme that as you pointed out even he thought was illegal. you don't go seeking a pardon if you thought what you were doing was kosher. >> yeah. i was curious for you to give us context. i gave him time, and he should get time. people can hear all the claims and arguments. that's how cases work. but i also point out to viewers that i'm curious to get your expertise, that part of the defense of mr. eastman now seems to be arguing things which are quite extreme, or never even made to it the court are in essence somehow unresolved or open questions. and so i'm curious if you could walk us through that, and you're quite a good guest forring this having been tapped

one of the terms is that john eastman cannot communicate with other defendants in this case. he also can't communicate with other witnesses in this case about the facts of the case. and so that means he's not going to personally be able to coordinate with other lawyers he might know and have quite a long history with, who he was working with, alongside trump after the election. he won't be able to talk to trump himself about this case. they'll have to talk through their lawyers or somehow through mediation in some informal sense if they do want to coordinate their legal defenses in some way. that's a pretty strict term. if you do violate it, you could be in violation of your bond terms meaning you might have to go back to jail. the other thing about this is that $100,000 bond, that doesn't mean you write a check for $100,000, although i guess you can. it means you are assuring that you're going to keep showing up and that you would owe that money if you don't show up for future proceedings if you were to an skonld, if you don't show up for trial, something like that. but it i

>> and barbara mcquade, focus on john eastman. he's a central figure in the january 6th committee hearings and an unindicted co-conspirator in jack smith's d.c. case. where do you think he stands? could he potentially cooperate, lessen the severity of the charges he's facing? >> well, today's statement makes him sound quite defiant but cooperators are often defiant before they change their minds and cooperate. he could be a valuable cooperator but i don't know that they need him. the fact that he indicted him suggests they have the evidence they need to prove the case against all 19 defendants. nonetheless statistics tell us 90 to 95% of defendants enter guilty pleas and prosecutors would love to have the assistance of someone on the inside to serve as narrater to bring it all it together and just have less of a burden of having to try 19 defendants, having to try only a handful would make their jobs easier. >> ken, let's turn to donald trump. you were digging into the bond order in georgia. this was very specific warnings, differ

john eastman and greg jacob. in that meeting, based on under oath testimony from greg jacob before the january 6th committee, eastman reportedly says, "well, i did a float this theory to trump and have authored this memo, but i am not really sure it is going to hold water." and jacob explodes. he is a mild-mannered person, but he explodes in terms of being a lawyer, saying how is this circulating at the highest levels of the federal% government? yet pence persisted. on jan january 6th, communicatea text messages and emails, eastman is saying follow the plan. >> john: this is something the former president still believes now, he has not changed his mind on the outcome of the election, however wrong they may be. >> he has waited into the possibility of becoming president again and issuing pardons for anyone implicated in this. so that puts in a nutshell his approach to the facts, to the law, and to power. if he reclaims it, he will pardon those who helped put this in motion. >> john: jeff pegues, we have about a min

wants john eastman tried to do wasn't that. he went and advocated for something for worst, which culminated in january 6th. so this guy went from being a kind of no name constitutional law professor to being an active coup plotter. and look, i know this guy. we worked on the supreme court together. and everyone, i think, thought he was three kooky but nobody thought he would go to jail. this person has completely lost his compass and you can see it. >> when, what is your reaction when you see not just a criminal defendant but a criminal defendant who is a lawyer, who's legal advice, that he was pushing ended up getting him indicted, is part of the indictment of other people and part of the conspiracy. and you see him out there at this point being willing to talk to reporters, being willing to respond to questions like, do you believe the election was stolen? and a case where the criminal jury and the trial jury is going to hear the secretary of state of georgia certify this election over and over again as being absolutely clear

john eastman started out by trying to convince republican state legislators to overturn that biden had won. eastman and his coconspirators and then-president trump according to the indictment, they came up with a new plan. if they couldn't get election results overturned in state legislatures, they would get the results overturned in congress. instead of getting republican lawmakers in these states to replace biden electors with trump electors, eastman advised they could create their own slate of fake trump electors. and then when vice president pence presided over the national certification of the election results that would happen on january 6th, well, then pence could use those fake slates to claim that trump had won. to implement that plan they turned to another alleged coconspirator, wisconsin lawyer kenneth chesbro. he drafted memos basically fake electors for dummies memo. and thee drafted those are each of these electors to follow in targeted states. as he started to distribute these fake electors for dummies memos to the states, some people on the ground with weren't sure abou

at least publicly you could say john eastman is sticking to his guns.he even seems happy to explain why he, and again, the historical antecedent he is giving here, trying to lead a revolution against united states government in order to abolish it. the national correspondent for the washington post explains that john eastman shows his path for misinformation revolution. he joins me now. let's start on the revolution. again, remember on that day, it was extremely commonplace to invoke 1776. everyone, we'll, not everyone, many of the participants in a mob that stormed the capitol, elected leaders, lauren boebert, and here is john eastman saying explicitly, my view and our view is that the government is intolerable and is justified in us abolishing it. >> yeah. we can't really see much beyond that. but i think it's important for people understand the context in which he was making those comments. he spent about an hour to half talking with this. guy in the course of that hour to have you tried to make the case as to why it was rational. not just that it wa

one of them trump lawyer john eastman, a key player in trump's plan to overturn the 2020 election results. eastman defiant after being processed at jail. >> do you regret attaching your name to the former president? >> nonwhatsoever. the president called and asked for representation. i think every citizen in my position should be willing to stand up for him. >> eastman was a key figure in the fake electors scheme in georgia and other states, and the alleged mastermind behind the six-step plan for having then vice president mike pence overturn joe biden's election victory. the indictment reads, in part, quote during a telephone kwoel they attempted to persuade or return the slates of presidential electors to state legislators. this was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy. as cnn has reported, john eastman is also unindicted co-conspirator number two in special counsel jack smith's federal election case against trump. cnn also learning exclusively tonight that rudy giuliani, trump's one-time lawyer and one of his codefendants in fulton county, still has not found a georgia-based l

ingraham, john eastman says hisa client will never plead guilty e in the january 6th case. tonight he is here to tell ushe why. butre first, the realirst election meddlers, that's the focus of tonight's angle.>> >> this indictment it is cringy. msel>> i can't tell you how facially. >> he has extravagantly d the statutes in order to try to capture this behavior. >> for me the word farcical,al ridiculous, abusive, those wordd came to mind, after going over the document for the second time earlier today i realize it's fas worse than any of that. what jack smith and his boss merrick garland are doing not justar to trump, but to the nation going forward is devastating. now the doj, the whiteho house, everyre member of congressss knows the truth. the rag tag group of maga supporters, they had no meaningful effect on the democratic process on that day, only propagandists can call it an insurrection, donald trump left office on january 20th. the real conspiracy wristsor working toki deprive people of their rights are found at the department of justice, includina news anchors, repor

paragraphs 92, 93, it alleges that john eastman told the president just that. don't think trump would like to hear that, because then it would be him saying nobody told you that that i don't could suggest to elect the seven ejectors because it would be patently illegal. it actually sets them up against each other if that's the road. >> even without pleading, he is throwing someone under the bus. >> trump's whole defensesy relied on my lawyer. and his lawyer says no, i never told him that, right? that throws his defense out the window. >> riekght. and laura, the unprecedented territory we're in. we're having a whole discussion about whether someone should know the sky is blue. >> it's unbelievable to think about. three indictments in four months? and by the way, it's only tuesday, everyone. and we're only in august. thank you for watching. >> it's about to be wednesday in 20 seconds. >> three, two, one. thank you for watching, everyone. it's time for us to go to bed. a new fresh day tomorrow. but our coverage is going to continue. >>> a warm welcome to our v vie

another codefendant trump lawyer, john eastman, says he intends to do the same.n't know who the courts will side with on that particular question. but if those defendants think that they will have an easier time on their own, they may want to rethink their strategy. just last night, listen to this one, john eastman, also a codefendant, gave an interview to fox news where he issued this challenge. >> on the rico side of the fulton county case, that would require findings of bad faith. that would have to be you all basically agreeing, implicitly, explicitly, that you all knew that this was all phony, and that you say? >> well, they have got all the evidence. they have all my emails, my phone was seized over a year ago, to have all of that stuff as well. i challenge them to find a single email or communication that supports that implausible theory. >> challenge accepted. john eastman wants to see an email where he admits that this is all, that this is not all above board. okay, how about this one? it is in the january 6th indictments sent by john eastman to then vic

john eastman wants to see an e-mail where he admits this isn't all above board. okay, what about this one? it's in the january 6th indictment sent by john eastman to then vice president mike pence's chief counsel in which he says i implore you to consider one more relatively minor violation of the electoral count act and adjourn for ten days to delay -- to allow the ledge s rachers to finish their investigations as well as to allow a full forensic audit of the massive amount of illegal activity that has occurred here. how about this one where he tells rudy giuliani i've decided that i should be put on the pardon list if that's still in the works, end quote. okay. joining us now are people who know more about this than i do. jim was seen as a former campaign manager for barack obama's 2012 re-election campaign and a former white house deputy chief of staff and the ceo of the group. also with us is anthony michael christ, a professor afflaw and political science at georgia state university. good evening to both of you. anthony, let's start with you because some of

joining me now is that attorney co-counsel sill for john eastman harvey. , good to see you don't. what makes you so confident in your case? >> well, because the eastman advice was in the realm of good faith legal advice. it was certainly cutting edge. it was creative but, you know, that's what good lawyers are supposed to do. and eastman's advice was perfectly within the realm of good faith legal advice. i don't have any doubt about it. i'm sure we can get experts to testify to that, if necessary. if eastman is charged, he is going to trial. if is he convicted, he is going to appeal. we will never ever make a deal. >> laura: well, i don't understand. their argument is that he was facilitating a crime with the advice? and, obviously, their interpretation of these statutes and the application of the statutes themselves are novel legal theories without really clear intent established. so they're guilty of the standard that they're applying to trump and eastman, i guess, and the others. it's crazy. >> this whole thing has become so politicized that it's not eve

. >> you have one of the leading constitutional scholars in the united states, john eastman, say to president, it's legal. that eliminates criminal intent. >> federal prosecutors have a lot to say about eastman. listed as co-conspirator two in the indictment. it appears 30 times throughout the document. the indictment says co-conspirator two, ot devised and attempto implement a strategy to leverage the vice president's ceremonial role overseeing the certification proceeding to obstruct the certification of the presidential election. are later, about a meeting on january 4th, quote, the defendant and co-conspirator then asked t vice president to either unilaterally rejikt the legitimate electors from the seven targeted states or send the question of which slate was legitimate to the targeted slates legislatures. that day the indictment also alleges eastman admitted to a senior advisor to trump that he knew no court would suort his theory. it says,uote, thseor advisor told co-conspirator two, you are going to cause riots in the streets and co-conspirator two responded that there had previously

john eastman the very latest. blayne alexander, thank you for your reporting. >>> up next, president biden sees the devastation in hawaii. his message to the people of maui. >>> plus, a double whammy of wild weather out west. the flooding in california, and raging wildfires in washington. n (christina) with verizon business unlimited, i get 5g, truly unlimited data, and unlimited hotspot data. so, no matter what, i'm running this kitchen. (vo) make the switch. it's your business. it's your verizon. the long-lasting scent of gain flings made it smell like dave was in his happy place... ...the massage chair at the mall. but...he wasn't. gain flings with oxi boost and febreze. my cpa told me i wouldn't qualify for the erc tax refund, so i called innovation refunds. their team of independent tax attorneys will work with your cpa to determine if your company is eligible. [whip sound] take the first step to see if your small business qualifies. power e*trade's award-winning trading app makes trading easier. with its cus

i wonder if you can take us through what we believe -- i know john eastman didn't answer many questionsm my colleague. i wonder if you could take us through what we believe happened with eastman today? >> reporter: well, the surrender process at the jail behind me, there's -- people get their mug shots taken, there's electronic fingerprinting, there's a medical test, and kind of standard procedures like that. fulton sheriff has made clear he intends to treat all 19 of these defendants the same as he has everybody else. initially i think especially for the more high-profile folks like donald trump we were wondering could that really be the case. are they really going to be doing a lot of these standard procedure kind of things like taking things and that's the case. we're seeing from other news outlets guidance to the defendant if you don't want to wait in line come in the middle of the night so you can get booked faster which is something that you do see here at this jail. >> the big event, i guess if we call it that, will be donald trump getting booked and going through this process. i

believing that the sky is blue. >> i'm sorry. >> we do, ryan, have a statement coming up from john eastmanhis attorney, saying that eastman will not plea, that there will be no plea or cooperation. if you were invited to plea bargain with federal or state prosecutors, he will decline. the fact is if he's indicted he'll go to trial. if convicted he will appeal, and he also says that the indictment relies on misleading presentations. >> i think if he goes to trial, and gets convicted, on the evidence there is a suit that is very, strong but it sets up something, interesting which is that he might try to defend himself in ways that will hurt trump. that is what is happening right now in california, where there is a proceeding to have him stripped of his bar license, and john eastman has said that i never told the president, that vice president pence could reject the electors, that would have been illegal. what is happening in paragraph 90 to 90 through this indictment, it alleges that john eastman told president just that. i don't think trump would like to hear that, because then it would be

two major exclusive first trump co-defendant john eastman goes one on one with me.ought you the story of six sorority sisters who sued after a biological man was admitted to their chapter. now, if you can believe it, a judge just slapped down that lawsuit and one of the sisters is here tonight exclusively with her response and what comes next. but, first, reaching black america, that's the focus of tonight's angle. >> if you have a problem figuring out whether you are for me or trump, then you ain't black. >> it don't have nothing to do with trump it. has to do with the fact that i want something for my community. i would love to see -- >> -- take a look at my record, man. >> now being taken for granted, it's a lousy feeling whether it's in friendships or business or politics. no one wants to feel under appreciated or under served. at some point the relationship either changes or there is a break-up. and there are sides that this dynamic is at play between democrats and african-american voters. now, in 2020, trump won 8% of the black vote. but two and a half years l

>> i certainly haven't, and neither did john eastman.ink as the evidence unfolds, the picture of that is going to be markedly different than presented in the indictment. >> let's get into that as you say, you know what i'm referring to. they say they have the evidence, did eastman put it in writing that the trump campaign basically was making filings, the knowledge of which verified in the complaint were not accurate. i want to put that up there as you see, and it then says this filing was one of the acts of racketeering activity. in addition, you and i discussed previously that mr. eastman at one point said, oh, here's the law, and then reversed and said the opposite. what is your response to their specific allegation as part of the racketeering case that he was knowingly putting forward false material? >> i'll respond as best i can within the confines of privilege. there's an olds old saying for trial lawyers, maybe you're familiar with it, the ultimate move in a trial is to take the government's best evidence and turn it around and sa

plus part 2 of my exclusive interview with former trump legal adviser and co-defendant john eastman. but, first, today after a kentucky chamber of commerce meeting, mitch mcconnell was set to speak at a small press conference. and it happened again. >> what are your thoughts on running for re-election in 2026 whampleght are my thoughts about what? >> running for re-election in 2026. >> oh, ha ha -- >> did you hear the question, senator, running for re-election in 2026? >> yes. >> i'm sorry, y'all, we are going to need a minute. senator. somebody else have a question, please speak up? >> laura: no, is he not okay. now, bizarrely, after that disturbing episode, neither of the two questions that followed referenced what just happened. but this was the final question. >> what is your reaction on trump's latest indictment? would you support him as a nominee? >> it's a question about trump. yeah, i'm not going to comment about the presidential race. either on the republican or the democratic side. >> mcconnell spokesperson tried to explain all of this away saying mitch felt momentarily lig

it is very likely he is going to be released and we don't have an indication that john eastman has been released from fulton county jail yet in georgia, but he is the most prominent defendant to head over to the jail and go through this process of the criminal justice system, something that every one of the defendants in this case of 19, the racketeering case against donald trump and others for what they were planning to do to stop the transfer of power, and all of them will have a bond hearing and then go to the jail to be released on cash bond or some sort of surety or personal recognizance. but donald trump, he has the bond set, and has some restrictions and no intimidating the witnesses including on social media in this case, and we are going to be waiting for him to come into the state of georgia to also go through this process of being arrested an report to jail as a criminal defendant in georgia in fulton county. >> absolutely. katelyn is getting all of the details. thank you so much, katelyn. sara? >> joining us is chris timmons former trial attorney and prosecutor. and now, i w

. >> katie, let's talk about trump's former attorney, john eastman. facing disbarment for his part in these alleged schemes. was this about proximity to power, or were something else going on here? i want you to remind our audience, john eastman wasn't some joker, wasn't some crack pot who was just lucky to have a seat at the paint the table. he was four years, i mean, he clerk for supreme court justices. he was dean of his law school and he could be disbarred or indicted here. >> you're right. john eastman was a very respected lawyer in many arenas. he did very well. he certainly was not considered a crack part until some of the speeches he gave around january sticks. but what is interesting in general is a lot of people want to dismiss trump and trumpism as crazy in an aberration. but someone like john eastman shows us is that donald trump really did take over the republican establishment. he has managed to harness that power. i was speaking with professor the other day and i said what makes trump different from some other political radicals or poli

and their defense is, listen to john eastman, i am sorry, john eastman is a constitutional nobody. and there was a person after person who told trump from his own attorney general bill barr to the white house counsel, to all the other lawyers in the white house counsel's office, all thoughts of people said, you lost this election. you've got nothing here. trump shopped with -- one lawyer john eastman, who said something -- he didn't believe it because he thought he'd lose 9 to 0 in the supreme court as the indictment says. >> harry litman, george stephanopoulos repeatedly tried to get an answer to the question that, will donald trump take the witness stand and testify that he did not say to mike pence, you are too honest. and john lauro absolutely ran away from that question multiple times, as far as he could. george stephanopoulos did with it as long as he could. and the only response he ever got was john lauro saying basically the defense doesn't have to prove anything. >> he will run away from it until the very last minute, and be cool, and say he might take the stand. and axiom

john eastman, former trump lawyer. promoted the idea that the electoral certification could be stopped. a big champion of that idea and we from our coverage and he pushed a memorandum that vice president mike pence could overturn the election. we know that is not true. he never had that legal right. sidney powell, she was out there. former trump lawyer, widely promoted the baseless allegations of election fraud notably she was one of the really big names out there pushing the idea that there was something wrong with the voting machines. which also is not true. jeffrey clark, he was over in the justice department, the indictment quotes email suggesting he tries to use the justice department to overturn the election. he pushed the idea of alternate slates of electors in each state. like okay the state has chosen the electors, let's name other ones for trump and have them pretend to be the right ones all in what looked like exchange for a big promotion. >> to become the attorney general. >> which did not happen. and then

indictment brings felony charges against donald john trump, rudolph william lewis giuliani, john charles eastmanmarc randele meadows, john cheeseborough, jeffrey clark, jenna lyn ellis, ray stallings smith the third, robert david chilly, michael a roman, david james schaffer, sean micah pressure steel, stephen clifford lee, harrison william prescott floyd, treveyon see kuti, sydney kathrin powell, kathleen austin latham. scott graham hall, and misty hampton, also known as emily misty hayes. every individual charged in the indictment is charged with one count of violation of georgia's racketeer, influenced, and corrupt organization act. through participation in a criminal enterprise in fulton county, georgia. and elsewhere, to accomplish the legal goal of allowing donald j trump to seize the presidential term of office, beginning on january 20th, 2021. specifically, the participants in aca shun took various actions in georgia and elsewhere to block the county of the votes of the presidential electors, who were certified as the winners of georgia's 2020 general election. as you examine the indictm

then there's john eastman. can see here when the feds seized his phone over a year ago, putting his hands on his head, taking the phone, he now faces disbarment proceedings. he's been facing the long arm of the law here for some time. and when congress came to that same gentleman, mr. eastman, with questions, he repeatedly pled the fifth. >> i assert my fifty amendment right against being compelled to be a witness against myself. >> did the trump legal team ask you to prepare a memorandum in joint session of congress january 2020? you will not discuss those same conversations with this committee? >> fifth. >> the next coconspirator, sidney powell, who even trump said, in the middle of all this, she sounded, quote, crazy. fox news lost its huge defamation case over her kind of claims, and so when you look at powell's role in all of this, she was someone who was not only unhinged within the team, but was the outer edge of what smith thinks they can prove in court were knowing lies committed through fraud submitte

cnn has been able to identify five so far, among them rudy giuliani, john eastman, sidney powell alongith jeffrey clark and another pro trump attorney. >> one key question is why are none of these people charged, at least not yet. might they still be? who else might be cooperating with prosecutors? let's start with cnn's katelyn polantz. quite a moment. >> reporter: it is. this is a set of charges built arou around da seat that the yd believes they can try in court that is a criminal conspiracy when you look at the way the indictment is structured there are essentially three parts and they all are conspiracies propagated by donald trump, led by donald trump and that donald trump was doing, working with these other lawyers who were with him after the election, people like rudy giuliani, sidney powell, john eastman, they were doing one thing and his campaign, his white house advisers and others in the republican party were telling him to stop, that he was doing something fraudulent and that he could not be spreading this disinformation because it just was not true. the three parts of thi

an update on john eastman's story? >> reporter: that's right.000. he received a statement from his attorney prior to him surrendering, he reiterated that statement saying this was a politicized moment where the law was not being applied fairly but did feel that ultimately he would be cleared. i had the chance to ask him some questions, and he was responding despite the fact that his attorney several times had to steer him away from the crowd of reporters that gathered in front of him to initially hear the statement. one of the things that i asked him was, do you still believe all of these months later that the 2020 election was stolen. >> he said absolutely. he doesn't regret ever coming in contact or working with the former president and says he has not spoken to trump in recent moments. other notes, i asked him who was paying his legal fees. eastman told me he himself was paying his legal fees. i asked if he was going to claim immunity from prosecution. he told me no comment on that. i asked if he thought that others like mark meadows had the

john eastman started out by trying to convince republican state legislators to overturn the election results in various states that biden had won. as the indictment puts it, those efforts met with repeated failure. eastman and his coconspirators, including then president trump, according to the indictment, they came up with a new plan. if they couldn't get the election results overturned in republican state legislatures, they would get the results overturned in congress. instead of getting republican lawmakers in these states to replace biden electors with trump electors, eastman advised that they could create their own states, their own slates of fake trump electors. when vice president pence presided over the congressional certification of the election results, what happened on january 6th, pence could use this fake slates to claim that trump had won. to implement that plan, they turned to another alleged coconspirator, kenneth chesebro. jazz pro drafted memos basically, fake electors for dummies manuals. he drafted this many -- republicans to follow in the states. as he tried to di

john eastman has agreed to bond terms, what are the details. we also have confirmation of the memos kenneth chesebro sent advising then president trump on how to select alternate electors. what did he tell donald trump to do, and a new court filing from mark meadows trying to dismiss his charges. what immunity argument is he trying to use. joining me now is nbc news correspondent, blayne alexander who's going to join us in just a second. first we want to go to garrett haake who's with us as well. garrett, thanks for being here. we saw donald trump's lawyers today. do we have any idea what they might be doing? >> well, logic tells us if they're working on behalf of their biggest and most important client, donald trump, they were on the same floor as the d.a.'s office, likely working out the details of what we have seen already from some of these other defendants, bond consent agreements, which is essentially getting the process of, you know, fulton county, it's not an arraignment, but post booking release details worked out. in the case of the o

first john eastman. he put out a statement through his attorneys essentially saying that he was just doing his job. he says that he was being charged for, quote, zealous advocacy of donald trump who he was ethically bound to represent. could that be a successful defense? >> it could. he could have been zealously advocating on behalf of the president. or he could also have been carrying out crimes at the direction of the president. and that will be for a court and a jury to sort out. any number of the individuals in this case, boris, they're attorneys who were providing advice to other people. that advice often ended up being at least as alleged criminal misconduct. and as evidence comes out and certainly as this comes to trial he could get in big trouble for it. >> david shafer, who reached a bond agreement with prosecutors today, he also is essentially saying he was just doing his job, he acted at the behest of president trump. he actually provided a transcript of a meeting about fake electors. could hi