The phone of John Eastman, a conservative lawyer who advised Donald Trump during his attempt to overturn the 2020 election, was seized by federal agents.
A lawsuit was filed Monday in a New Mexico federal court to get the property back from the government. The Justice Department's internal watchdog stopped Eastman as he was leaving a restaurant in New Mexico on June 22, taking his phone, according to his filing.
The phone would be sent to the Justice Department's forensic lab in northern Virginia, according to a copy of the search warrant.
The seizure was the latest sign that the Justice Department is intensifying its criminal investigation into Trump's attempt to stay in office and prevent the transfer of power to Joe Biden.
The home of Jeff Clark, a former Justice Department official who eagerly advanced Trump's baseless claims of election fraud, was raided by federal investigators on the same day the FBI seized Eastman's phone.
In recent hearings, the House January 6 committee has shown footage of Clark and Eastman repeatedly invoke their 5th amendment right against self-incrimination during closed-door depositions.
The former law professor resigned from Chapman University in Southern California in January 2021. He's still a fellow at the institute.
The architect of the plan to delay or block the certification of the election results was identified in the weeks after Trump's loss. One constitutional expert told Insider that the proposal to reject slates of electors from states where Trump allies claimed there was widespread fraud was a proposed coup.
Trump was angry that Pence wouldn't go along with the plan. As his supporters charged into the US Capitol, the former president said that he didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect the country.
A group of Trump supporters started chanting "hang Mike Pence" The White House staff testified that Trump agreed with the sentiment.
Eric Herschmann, a former White House lawyer, said that the efforts to overturn the 2020 election continued after the rioters left the US Capitol. In testimony before the January 6 committee, Herschmann said that Eastman continued to push for a way to invalidate Biden's victory in the Electoral College, citing debunked claims of fraud to justify adopting alternate slates of electors.
According to Herschmann, he urged Eastman to defend himself.
Get a great criminal defense lawyer, I'm going to give you the best legal advice you'll ever get. He said you will need it. I hung up on him.
In a March 22 ruling, a federal judge stated that congressional investigators had the right to get documents from the company.
The judge said that if the plan had worked, it would have ended the peaceful transition of power and undermined the constitution. The country might not commit to it.
The court is concerned that January 6 will repeat itself.
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