The Lawyer Behind the Memo on How Trump Could Stay in Office

John Eastman’s way from little-known world to 1 of the astir influential voices successful Donald J. Trump’s receptor successful the last days of his presidency began successful mid-2019 connected Mr. Trump’s favourite platform: television.

Mr. Trump, who had ne'er met Mr. Eastman, saw him connected the Fox News speech amusement of the far-right commentator Mark Levin railing against the Russia investigation. Within 2 months, Mr. Eastman was sitting successful the Oval Office for an hourlong meeting.

Soon, Mr. Eastman was gathering look to look astatine Mr. Trump’s urging with the lawyer general, William P. Barr, and telling him however Mr. Trump could unilaterally enforce limits connected birthright citizenship.

Then, aft the November election, Mr. Eastman wrote the memo for which helium is present champion known, laying retired steps that Vice President Mike Pence could instrumentality to support Mr. Trump successful powerfulness — measures Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans person likened to a blueprint for a coup.

Mr. Eastman’s memo is among the astir alarming of the continuing revelations astir the past stages of Mr. Trump’s clip successful the White House, erstwhile helium was prompting the Justice Department to find ways to reverse his nonaccomplishment successful the election and his apical wide was worried astir the atomic concatenation of command.

Mr. Eastman’s emergence wrong Mr. Trump’s interior ellipse successful the chaotic last weeks of his medication besides underscores the grade to which Mr. Trump not lone relied on, but encouraged, a unit of players from the fringes of politics. They became cardinal participants successful his efforts to stay successful powerfulness arsenic galore of his longtime aides and lawyers refused to assistance him.

John R. Bolton, Mr. Trump’s erstwhile nationalist information adviser, said successful an interrogation that it was troubling that astatine specified a captious juncture, Mr. Trump had pushed speech the Justice Department and White House counsel.

Instead, helium said, Mr. Trump was listening to an outsider “without the organization learning that has gone connected for a mates of 100 years that undergirds the proposal that is usually fixed to presidents that support them successful sane channels.”

Mr. Eastman’s entreaty to Mr. Trump, fleshed retired successful interviews with Mr. Eastman and others who dealt with him during this period, rested successful ample portion connected his expansive views of statesmanlike powerfulness — and his willingness to archer Mr. Trump what helium wanted to hear.

When it came to migration policy, a favourite taxable of some men, Mr. Eastman argued that Mr. Trump could usage his enforcement authorization to enforce limits connected birthright citizenship — the foundational conception that anyone calved successful the United States is automatically a national — by saying it should not beryllium applied to radical calved successful the United States to noncitizens.

But Mr. Barr, who was progressively uncovering himself having to fend disconnected the proposal of extracurricular lawyers, tv commentators and Mar-a-Lago hangers-on, dismissed the idea, saying Mr. Eastman’s statement was a agelong and yet impractical.

Mr. Eastman admitted Mr. Barr was right.

“Well, archer that to the president,” Mr. Barr told him.

Still, by aboriginal January 2021, amid his wide-ranging effort to overturn the predetermination results, Mr. Trump had go truthful enamored of Mr. Eastman’s proposal that the 2 teamed up successful an Oval Office gathering to unit Mr. Pence to intervene to assistance Mr. Trump stay successful powerfulness by delaying the Jan. 6 certification of Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory.

In a two-page memo written by Mr. Eastman that had been circulated to the White House successful the days earlier the certification — revealed successful the caller publication “Peril” by the Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa — Mr. Eastman said that Mr. Pence arsenic vice president was “the eventual arbiter” of the election, fundamentally saying helium had the powerfulness to find who won, and that “we should instrumentality each of our actions with that successful mind.”

As Mr. Trump hints astatine different tally successful 2024, Mr. Eastman remains a span betwixt the erstwhile president and the continuing efforts by immoderate of his supporters to beforehand specious allegations of wide predetermination fraud successful 2020 and to undercut religion successful the electoral system.

In a bid of interviews, Mr. Eastman said helium was continuing to analyse reports of predetermination fraud and was penning a publication connected the subject. He besides said helium would inactive similar to correspond Mr. Trump, who faces a scope of ineligible battles.

He declined to accidental whether helium had advised immoderate authorities legislatures — which person go hubs for Republican efforts to propulsion claims of predetermination fraud — connected voting issues. And helium insisted that his two-page memo, which helium said helium hastily wrote portion connected Christmas abrogation with his household successful Texas, had been taken retired of context, but defended his presumption that Mr. Pence could person done acold much to assistance Mr. Trump.

“I won’t beryllium cowed by nationalist absorption to it,” Mr. Eastman said.

He added: “There are tons of allegations retired determination that didn’t get their time successful tribunal and tons of radical that judge them and privation they got their time successful court. and I americium moving precise diligently with respective teams — statistical teams, predetermination specialists teams, each sorts of teams — to effort and place the assorted claims and find whether they person merit oregon determination is tenable mentation for them.”

Like galore of the lawyers who worked successful Mr. Trump’s administration, Mr. Eastman had beardown blimpish ineligible credentials, initially giving him a patina of respect successful Mr. Trump’s interior circle.

Mr. Eastman attended instrumentality schoolhouse astatine the University of Chicago and clerked for some Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court and Judge J. Michael Luttig, a erstwhile national appeals tribunal justice who President George W. Bush considered for the Supreme Court. He is simply a subordinate of the blimpish Federalist Society and a erstwhile dean of the instrumentality schoolhouse astatine Chapman University successful Orange County, Calif. For 2 decades, helium ran his ain tiny instrumentality steadfast that focused connected representing conservatives connected issues similar escaped speech, spiritual liberty, termination and immigration.

After Election Day, Mr. Eastman served arsenic a behind-the-scenes ineligible backmost of sorts for Mr. Trump, alarming immoderate of Mr. Trump’s aides, who feared helium had recovered idiosyncratic to alteration his worst instincts astatine 1 of the astir unsafe moments of his presidency. And it amazed galore of Mr. Eastman’s longtime friends and others, who questioned whether his entree to powerfulness had skewed his imaginativeness of reality.

“You’re ever astatine hazard erstwhile each fail-safe mechanics breaks down,” Mr. Bolton said.

Mr. Eastman’s relation successful Mr. Trump’s efforts to stay successful powerfulness began the play aft the predetermination successful Philadelphia, wherever Mr. Eastman had traveled for an world conference. At a adjacent hotel, Mr. Trump’s closest aides, including Corey Lewandowski, were putting unneurotic a ineligible little to situation the results successful Pennsylvania.

Mr. Eastman had enactment himself connected the radar of Mr. Trump’s governmental aides during the predetermination erstwhile Jenna Ellis, a ineligible advisor to Mr. Trump’s campaign, had shared connected Twitter an nonfiction Mr. Eastman had written. The article, successful an echo of racist questions stoked by Mr. Trump astir wherever President Barack Obama had been born, questioned whether Kamala Harris, Mr. Biden’s moving mate, could legally go president due to the fact that her parents had not been calved successful the United States.

Now, confronting predetermination results that showed Mr. Trump lost, 1 of Mr. Trump’s aides reached retired to Mr. Eastman to spot whether helium could travel implicit to the edifice to assistance Mr. Trump’s team.

Mr. Eastman said helium was lone successful the country for 15 minutes earlier being ushered retired — but it was agelong enough, helium said, for him to drawback Covid-19 there, and helium became sick for respective weeks. By the clip helium felt better, it was the opening of December — erstwhile Mr. Trump called to spot whether Mr. Eastman could assistance bring ineligible enactment straight earlier the Supreme Court. In the days that followed, Mr. Eastman filed 2 briefs with the Supreme Court connected Mr. Trump’s behalf, but those efforts rapidly failed.

Mr. Trump remained undeterred. On Christmas Eve, portion Mr. Eastman was with his household successful Texas, a Trump adjutant reached retired to him astir penning a memo astir the Jan. 6 certification. Mr. Eastman wrote what became the two-page outline asserting the vice president’s powerfulness to clasp up the certification, and past a lengthier memo, which helium circulated to Mr. Trump’s ineligible squad respective days later.

Shortly aft New Year’s Day, the White House called Mr. Eastman and asked him to alert to Washington to conscionable with Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence. Mr. Pence’s main of staff, Marc Short, and Mr. Pence’s ineligible counsel, Greg Jacob, archetypal met with Mr. Eastman, giving them a consciousness of what Mr. Eastman was readying to reason to Mr. Trump successful their gathering with the president the adjacent day, Jan. 4.

In that consequent gathering with Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence, Mr. Eastman was the lone advisor to the president successful the room.

“It started with the president talking astir however immoderate of the ineligible assistance that had been done, saying nether the 12th Amendment, the vice president has the eventual authorization to cull invalid electoral votes and helium asked maine what I thought astir it,” Mr. Eastman said.

“It’s a small spot much analyzable than that, that’s surely 1 of the arguments that’s been enactment retired there, it’s ne'er been tested,” Mr. Eastman said helium replied.

Mr. Eastman said that Mr. Pence past turned to him and asked, “Do you deliberation I person specified power?”

Mr. Eastman said helium told Mr. Pence that helium mightiness person the power, but that it would beryllium foolish for him to workout it until authorities legislatures certified a caller acceptable of electors for Mr. Trump — thing that had not happened.

A idiosyncratic adjacent to Mr. Pence, who was not authorized to talk publically astir the Oval Office conversation, said that Mr. Eastman acknowledged that the vice president astir apt did not person that power, astatine which constituent Mr. Pence turned to Mr. Trump and said, “Did you perceive that, Mr. President?”

Mr. Trump appeared to beryllium lone half-listening, the idiosyncratic said.

Mr. Eastman said helium past pivoted the speech to asking Mr. Pence to hold the certification.

“What we asked him to bash was hold the proceedings astatine the petition of these authorities legislatures truthful they could look into the matter,” Mr. Eastman said.

Mr. Eastman recounted that Mr. Pence said helium “would instrumentality it nether advisement,” but Mr. Eastman said helium did not judge Mr. Pence would spell on with it.

“The hold was benignant of caller to him,” Mr. Eastman said astir Mr. Pence, “and helium wanted to deliberation astir it implicit and conscionable with his unit astir it. But I didn’t deliberation helium would bash it. My consciousness was helium knew an irretrievable interruption with Trump was astir to come, and helium was trying to hold that uncomfortable infinitesimal for arsenic agelong arsenic helium could.”

Mr. Eastman recalled getting successful interaction with Mr. Pence’s ineligible counsel Mr. Jacob the adjacent time astir whether Mr. Pence could hold the certification.

“I deliberation Jacob was looking for a mode for helium and Pence to beryllium convinced to instrumentality the enactment that we were requesting, and truthful I deliberation helium continued to conscionable with maine and propulsion backmost connected the arguments and perceive my counters, what person you, to effort and spot whether they could reconcile themselves to what the president had asked,” Mr. Eastman said.

After a last rebuff from Mr. Pence — and soon earlier an aggravated mob stormed the Capitol connected Jan. 6 — Mr. Eastman took to the signifier astatine Mr. Trump’s televised rally connected the Ellipse adjacent the White House to cheers, pushing mendacious claims astir predetermination fraud and calling erstwhile much for a hold successful the certification.

“We nary longer unrecorded successful a self-governing republic if we can’t get the reply to this question,” Mr. Eastman said. “This is bigger than President Trump! It is the precise essence of our enactment signifier of authorities and it has to beryllium done!”

Matthew Cullen contributed research.