Former Chapman University law professor John Eastman advised beaten President Donald Trump to take over the government on Jan. 6, according to newly published reports.
Eastman, who appeared at the rally before the insurrection at the Capitol, wrote a memo outlining a six-step plan to overturn the election and give the presidency back to Trump in violation of the Constitution.
The bizarre memo argued that it was up to former Vice President Mike Pence to set the scheme in motion.
“The fact is that the Constitution assigns this power to the Vice President as the
ultimate arbiter,” according to the memo.
The existence of the memo was first reported in the new book “Peril” by respected journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, and the document was subsequently obtained by CNN.
Eastman did not take part in the violent riot after the rally, but days later agreed under pressure to resign from Chapman University, where he had once been dean of the law school.
University President Daniele Struppa said the agreement closed a “challenging chapter” for the Orange County institution.
Eastman also brought controversy to the university for his role in filing a legal brief before the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to overturn the election results, and in arguing in an op-ed that Kamala Harris was not eligible to be Vice President because her parents were immigrants.
During the Jan. 6 rally, Eastman appeared with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and told angry Trump supporters the election had been stolen.