A firm tied to Trump lawyer John Eastman received $10,000 from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's campaign

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A firm tied to Trump lawyer John Eastman received $10,000 from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's campaign
John Eastman (left); Rep. Marjorie Taylor GreeneJim Bourg/Reuters; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
  • Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's campaign paid John Eastman in January for unspecified "legal services."
  • The payment was made to Constitutional Counsel Group, a firm founded by the Trump lawyer.
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Campaign groups affiliated with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene have paid thousands of dollars in recent months to the firm of John Eastman, a lawyer who played a leading role in former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Greene's reelection committee paid $10,000 in January to the Constitutional Counsel Group, according to a recent federal campaign finance disclosure. Eastman lists the Anaheim, California address of the Constitutional Counsel Group in state bar records.

In a disclosure with the Federal Election Commission, Greene's campaign committee said it paid the Constitutional Counsel Group on January 14 for "legal services." But it was not the first payment to Eastman's firm from a committee tied to Greene, a Georgia Republican known for her incendiary style and embrace of conspiracy theories.

Put America First, a joint fundraising committee run by Greene and Rep. Matt Gaetz, had previously paid Constitutional Counsel Group more than $15,000 between September and December 2021, according to Federal Election Commission records.

According to those records, he remains admitted to the California bar, in spite of calls for him to lose his law license over his past work for Trump. Ahead of Congress' certification of the 2020 election results, Eastman advised then-Vice President Mike Pence that he could unilaterally throw out states' electoral counts, a move that would have blocked President-elect Joe Biden's certification of victory and likely triggered a constitutional crisis.

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Eastman did not respond to requests for comment. In his voicemail greeting, he referred to himself as the Constitutional Law Group's founding partner.

In a statement to Insider, Greene's campaign declined to provide details on Eastman's legal work.

"Dr. Eastman is one of the leading constitutional attorneys in the country. When we need advice on significant constitutional issues, we have occasionally sought his counsel," a campaign spokesperson said. "The particular issues for which we sought his advice are protected by attorney-client privilege, however."

After emerging as the legal mind behind efforts to overturn the 2020 election, Eastman joined the ranks of lawyers whose work for Trump brought on public backlash and professional fallout.

He stepped down as a law professor in the face of student protests that were followed by calls for disbarment. He came under scrutiny from the House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol, landing in litigation with the congressional panel that resulted last month in a federal judge summarizing Trump's post-election efforts as a "coup in search of a legal theory."

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A former Supreme Court clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas, Eastman invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in response to a subpoena from the special House committee investigating January 6. Eastman later sued the committee in an attempt to shield emails related to his work for Trump, arguing they were privileged communications.

The case has since provided a forum for the House committee to make some of its strongest pronouncements about Trump's potential legal liability. In a court filing last month, House lawyers said the committee had enough evidence to conclude that Trump and his allies might have conspired to commit fraud and obstruction in their efforts to overturn the former president's loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 election.

The House said Eastman's "legal assistance was used in furtherance of those activities."

The federal judge overseeing that case later said Trump "likely" obstructed Congress, in a ruling that also ordered Eastman to turn over emails to the House committee.

"Dr. Eastman and President Trump launched a campaign to overturn a democratic election, an action unprecedented in American history. Their campaign was not confined to the ivory tower—it was a coup in search of a legal theory," wrote Judge David Carter. "The plan spurred violent attacks on the seat of our nation's government, led to the deaths of several law enforcement officers, and deepened public distrust in our political process."

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It is unclear what legal services Eastman's firm provided to Greene's campaign. But Greene has found herself in political and legal peril of late.

In October, the progressive watchdog group End Citizens United filed complaints with the Federal Election Commission and the Office of Congressional Ethics alleging that she engages in "unethical and illegal" campaign spending and "self-serving and shady practices."

In Georgia, a group of voters filed a constitutional challenge to keep Greene from running for reelection on the grounds that she aided the January 6 insurrection. Greene responded in early April with a lawsuit asking a federal judge to shut down the state proceedings.

At a recent hearing, Judge Amy Totenberg said she would likely allow the group of Georgia voters to move forward with their effort to keep Greene off the ballot.

A lawyer representing Greene in that case, James Bopp Jr., told Insider that Eastman was not involved in the matter.

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Of Eastman, Bopp said, "I don't know what he's doing."

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