Trump lawyer behind infamous 'coup' memo will plead the 5th at Capitol riot commission

Attorney John Eastman, who gained notoriety after authoring a so-called "coup" memo on behalf of former President Donald Trump, plans to exercise his right against self-incrimination when talking to the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th Capitol riots.

Politico reports that Eastman's attorney delivered a letter to Capitol riot committee chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) in which he asserted that his client "hereby asserts his Fifth Amendment right not to be a witness against himself in response to your subpoena."

The attorney claimed that Eastman would be asserted his Fifth Amendment rights because "members of this very Committee have openly spoken of making criminal referrals to the Department of Justice and described the Committee’s work in terms of determining 'guilt or innocence.'"

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Eastman last year drafted a memo in which he argued that former Vice President Mike Pence had the power to reject the certified election results from several swing states and then send the decision back to Republican-controlled state legislatures.

Pence ultimately rejected this plan, however, and went on to oversee the certification of President Joe Biden as the legitimate winner of the 2020 election.