Accessibility links

Breaking News
USA

US Gets Warrant to Search Phone of Trump's Election Attorney Eastman


FILE - Attorney John Eastman, left, speaks next to President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, before Trump's speech to supporters in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021.
FILE - Attorney John Eastman, left, speaks next to President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, before Trump's speech to supporters in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021.

The U.S. Justice Department said Wednesday it received a warrant to search the phone of former President Donald Trump's election attorney, John Eastman, who spoke at a rally before the January 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol.

Federal agents in June seized Eastman's phone based on a warrant authorizing them to take the device. They needed a second warrant to search the phone's contents.

In a filing with U.S. District Court in New Mexico, Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Windom said the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on July 12 issued a search warrant authorizing review of the phone's contents and manual screen capture.

He said federal agents in northern Virginia had the phone and screenshots of some of its contents.

Eastman has been under intense scrutiny in the probes into the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters after the former president falsely claimed that he had won the 2020 election. Eastman spoke at the rally where Trump gave a fiery speech alleging election fraud and urging supporters to march on the Capitol.

Eastman also wrote a memo outlining how, in his view, then-Vice President Mike Pence could thwart formal congressional certification of Trump's re-election loss. Pence ultimately declined to follow Eastman's advice.

Wednesday's filing was made in New Mexico because Eastman had previously filed a suit there asking a judge to order the Justice Department to return the phone, destroy records and block investigators from accessing the phone.

The judge denied that request but ordered the government to update the court by Wednesday on the location of the phone and status of a second search warrant.

A representative for Eastman was not immediately available for comment.

  • 16x9 Image

    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

XS
SM
MD
LG