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Tuesday, August 22nd, 2023 10:12 am EDT
John Eastman, the attorney facing criminal charges for his efforts to overturn former President Donald Trump‘s 2020 election loss, surrendered at a jail in Atlanta on Tuesday.
Eastman was booked and released from the Fulton County Jail shortly before noon. Outside the jail, Eastman told NBC News that he “absolutely” still believed the 2020 election was stolen.
“No question in my mind,” said Eastman, who added that he was paying his own legal fees in the case.
Eastman is one of 19 co-defendants, including Trump, facing charges in the Georgia criminal case led by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
Eastman penned an infamous memo outlining the dubious legal theory that then-Vice President Mike Pence had the authority to reject key Electoral College votes while he presided over a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.
Eastman faces nine counts of crimes including racketeering, conspiracy to commit forgery and filing false documents.
All the co-defendants in the case must surrender at the jail by Friday. Trump, who faces 13 criminal counts, said on social media late Monday that he would surrender Thursday.
A judge on Monday set Eastman’s bond at $100,000.
“I am here today to surrender to an indictment that should never have been brought,” Eastman said in a statement posted to the website of one of his attorneys.
“It represents a crossing of the Rubicon for our country, implicating the fundamental First Amendment right to petition the government for redress of grievances,” Eastman said.
He accused Willis of targeting attorneys who merely performed “zealous advocacy on behalf of their clients,” by challenging the election results “through lawful and appropriate means.”
“The attempt to criminalize our rights to such redress with this indictment will have – and is already having – profound consequences for our system of justice,” Eastman said.
He vowed to “vigorously contest” the counts against him and expressed confidence that all of his co-defendants will be “fully vindicated.”
Eastman was the second known co-defendant in Willis’ case to surrender to the Fulton County Jail. Scott Hall, a Georgia bail bondsman charged with seven criminal counts, was booked earlier Monday morning. As of 11:15 a.m. ET, Hall had not been released, according to the jail’s website.
Eastman’s surrender was reportedly expected Wednesday, following comments from a judge in California overseeing a separate case that could lead to Eastman’s disbarment in the state.
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