Judge's 'outrage leaps off the page' in scathing ruling against Trump and Eastman: legal expert

A federal judge "brought down the hammer" on Donald Trump and law professor John Eastman over their efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and a legal expert analyzed the ruling that found they "likely committed" multiple crimes as part of the scheme.

U.S. District Judge David O. Carter ruled broadly against Eastman's claims of attorney-client privilege, and the ruling concluded the president and his legal adviser had likely attempted to obstruct a congressional proceeding, engaged in a conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and taken part in common law fraud -- and The Bulwark's Kimberly Wehle examined what might come next.

"In short, Judge Carter concluded, 'this plan was a last-ditch attempt to secure the Presidency by any means,'" Wehle wrote. "It violated the Constitution and, per Eastman’s own admission, 'several provisions of statutory law.' Eastman knew it. Trump knew it. And to this day, the world knows it."

The judge found ample evidence that Trump and Eastman were trying to pressure vice president Mike Pence to disrupt the joint session of Congress, and Carter found that Trump almost certainly knew his justification was baseless, because his own officials had told him there was no election fraud and more than 60 courts dismissed his election challenges.

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"Carter’s conclusions should come as no surprise. Anyone with a passing familiarity with the events leading up to Jan. 6th (aside from dogged adherents to the Big Lie) is aware of the fact that Trump knowingly, deliberately, and methodically sought to steal the election from the valid winner, Joe Biden, using all of the massive powers of the presidency he could muster," Wehle wrote. "The widespread complacency with these truths — from politicians, prosecutors, and citizens across the political spectrum — clearly galls Judge Carter. The outrage virtually leaps off the page."

Carter explained that his ruling did not hold Trump or his lawyer accountable for their likely criminal activity, saying that it was -- at best -- a warning, but Wehle believes the judge was sending a strong signal that law enforcement should bring charges.

"Our democracy survived the Trump coup: Pence drew the red line on Jan. 6th, and Joe Biden, the duly elected president, was sworn in two weeks later," Wehle wrote. "But unless and until Attorney General Merrick Garland or some prosecutor within a state or municipal office musters the courage to indict Trump, and until Congress passes laws protecting the electoral process, the attack on American democracy will not yet have really ended."

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