BREAKING: HUGE news on Trump attorney’s DISBARMENT

You're watching the Legal Breakdown. Glenn, we have major disbarment news. about one of Donald Trump's top. attorneys. Can you explain that news. coming out of court? Yeah, Brian. John. Eastman, one of Donald Trump's dirty. lawyers, was just disbarred permanently. and finally by the Supreme Court of. California. This has been kicking around. for a while. First, it was a trial court. finding that he should be disbarred, then a court of appeals finding in. California, and now it is final. It is. definitive. John Eastman is disbarred.

Our viewers might remember, he was one. of the lawyers who cooked up this. corrupt scheme to try to overturn the. results of uh the 2020 election that. Donald Trump lost by saying, "Well, you. know, Mike Pence can just not count the. votes, and he can throw it back to the. states, and each state will get one. vote, and because there are more red. states than blue states, Donald Trump. wins an election he lost." Well, that. legal dog wouldn't hunt [snorts].

because, you know, it was contrary to. federal law, the Electoral Count Act. You know, and it was just a hairbrained. scheme from the start. You know, our. viewers might also remember that John. Eastman was one of those guys who stood. up at the podium on the ellipse at the. pre-insurrection pep rally. Remember. when Rudy Giuliani told everybody, "Let's go have trial by combat" and. Donald Trump told everybody, "Let's, you. know, go to the capital, fight like.

hell, or you won't have a country. anymore. Now, go stop the certification, stop the steal." Well, John Eastman. filled the heads of the folks who were. attending that pep rally with lie after. lie after lie after lie about the. election being stolen, the their votes. being rigged, their favorite president. being taken from them. And I have to. say, Brian, this one was probably not. all that hard for the California courts. to resolve because what people may not.

remember about John Eastman and his. involvement in this whole ugly affair. trying to steal a presidential election. for Donald Trump. Back during the. January 6th public hearings, this is the. evidence that was um developed and that. was shared with the American people. John Eastman acknowledged that the plot. to block the certification of Joe. Biden's election victory, a plot he came. up with, wasn't legal. But, he.

ultimately aggressively pushed it. anyway. So, even he acknowledged that. what he was proposing, what he was. urging Mike Pence to do, was not legal, but he said, "Screw it. Let's do it. anyway." I don't think it was that. difficult for the California courts to. say, "We will not allow this person to. hold a license to practice law from the. state of California." And he is now.

disbarred. Now, you had mentioned that this is. final, but in fact, Eastman announced. that he plans to ask the US Supreme. Court. So, this decision was from the. California Supreme Court. He plans to. ask the US Supreme Court to reverse the. California court's decision. And he. issued the following statement, "The. California Supreme Court has allowed to. stand a state bar court recommendation. that we contend departs from the. long-standing US Supreme Court precedent. protecting First Amendment rights, especially in the attorney discipline. context. We disagree with that outcome.

and believe it raises pivotal. constitutional concerns regarding the. limits of state regulation on of. attorney speech. We will seek review in. the US Supreme Court to repudiate this. threat to the rule of law and our. nation's adversarial system of justice.". So, how effective do you think John. Eastman will be with his appeal to the. US Supreme Court? Let me say it again, Brian. This disbarment is final. Why do. I say that? Because John Eastman wasn't. disbarred for his speech. They didn't.

say, "Oh, you told a bunch of lies, therefore what he was disbarred for was. violating the law, acknowledging that he. was violating the law, and his goal in. violating the law was to try to overturn. the results of a presidential election. against the expressed will of the. American voters. The the fact that some. speech was also sprinkled in there, this. is not And and I say this at my own.

peril because we all know that we have a. six-justice majority on the United. States Supreme Court that, you know, is. not entirely legitimate. They seem to be. more political than legal at times. This. is not the kind of thing a state bar. investigation culminating in a sanction. for a lawyer who's barred in that state, not the kind of thing the Supreme Court. is going to take up. So, I'm going to. stick with it. I'm going to place my. whole $1 maximum bet on this being a.

final disbarment. Glenn, do you think. that this is going to have any impact on. the existing slate of lawyers who are. probably working on the exact same thing. on Trump's behalf while watching his. former slate of attorneys try to wrestle. with different disbarments all across. the country? I'm going to go with a hard. no. Why do Why do I say that? Well, let's look at the current membership of. the Donald Trump disbarred lawyers club.

Rudy Giuliani, disbarred twice over, DC. and New York. Now, John Eastman, uh. Kenneth Chesebro, Jeffrey Clark, you. know, and yet what do we still see? We. see Pam Bondi who did Donald Trump's. dirty bidding until he threw her under. the bus. Lindsey Halligan, we saw. violating the law and the Constitution. trying to indict the innocent. We've got. Todd Blanche who has picked up where uh. Pam Bondi has left off. Look, all these.

people continue to act lawlessly in. service to dear leader, to Donald Trump. So, I don't see their behavior changing, but what I do see is in their future, Lindsey Halligan, Pam Bondi, Todd. Blanche, and others are bar referrals, investigations, findings of unethical conduct, and. possible disbarment. But, you know what? They're going into it with their eyes.

open, and so they will richly deserve. whatever sanction from their states they. get. You know, there is a part of me. that is certainly grateful that we're. seeing all of these disbarments, that. we're watching these state bar councils. um uphold their end of of of the deal, of the law, of making sure that that um. the the power that they bestow onto. these people isn't abused in the way. that these Trump administration. officials are abusing it or have been. abusing it. But, there's also a part of. me that worries that it's not enough,

that these people will be perfectly. content to relinquish their bar licenses. because at the end of the day, you know, Trump will still or Trump or MAGA world. will still hire these people um. regardless of whether whether or not. they're disbarred. And that's kind of. just, you know, if they have to be. disbarred, so be it. The more important. thing for Trump is that is that he has. shown that he has some lackeys and. sycophants who are willing to sacrifice. everything on behalf of him. And so, once they do that, you know, that there.

is always a a second life um as far as. they're concerned working, you know, in. this illicit you know, uh Trumpian. universe where you don't need to have a. law license. You don't need to um follow. the law. You where your felony. convictions are actually a point of. pride and and and on and on. Yeah, Brian, I I get that. You know, it seems. like a lot of these people kind of live. in a post-shame world or a post-shame. existence. But, listen, you pour a lot. of time and effort and energy and, you.

know, blood and sweat and tears into. obtaining your license to practice law. I mean, I went through it, 4 years. undergrad, 3 years of law school, sat. for the bar exam, sweated out the. results until I learned I'd passed the. bar exam. Um you put a lot into it, and. I think most attorneys sort of take. pride in their accomplishments. And the. fact that John Eastman will now be. walking around with a big D on his. forehead for disbarred, figuratively, yes, maybe he can sign on to some, you.

know, MAGA world project or be a. podcaster or an influencer, not that. there's anything wrong with that. But, you know, he it will forever be a black. stain on his legacy, on his career. For. gosh sakes, he was a law professor at at. a place called Chapman University, I. think. And you know, he has he has. fallen from grace, and he's going to. have to carry that with him through the. rest of his days. So, you know what? It's going to leave a mark. It's going. to stain even if they can go on to, you.

know, earn a a living in some other way. Do you think that these bar councils. have been aggressive enough? Are they. upholding their end of of this thing, or. is there still too much reticence when. it comes to these Trump administration. officials or Trump administration. figures um who are perfectly content to. abuse their law licenses in deference to. Trump? So, what I'll say, Brian, is bar. council investigations move at a snail's. pace. Listen, we want to give attorneys,

you know, full due process rights in the. context of this proceeding. It's not. strictly a court proceeding where all of. the constitutional due process rights. and precedent um apply, but they do get. a healthy dose of rights to have their. case heard, to call witnesses, to object. to whatever the recommendation is, if. there's a finding of misconduct, what. the sanction might be. They can appeal. it. This one went all the way up to the. California Supreme Court. These things. take a long time to wind through the.

system. I do wish they could do it more. quickly and more efficiently, but you. know, look, we saw a number of ethics. complaints filed against Pam Bondi while. she was Attorney General because she. holds her law license down in Florida. The Florida Bar said, "We have a policy, a protocol down here where we where we. will not actively investigate ethics. allegations against constitutionally. appointed officers like cabinet. officials including an Attorney General.

But guess what? She ain't a cabinet. official anymore. She ain't Attorney. General anymore. So now those Bar ethics. investigations should be moving forward. down in Florida. They don't happen. quickly, but you know, the good news is. they are happening and you know, we're. just at a place where the lawyers who. did Donald Trump's dirty and unethical. bidding during his first term are. suffering consequences now. So at least. the good news, the silver lining is, you. know, some form of accountability does.

ultimately come when these lawyers. decide to violate their own code of. ethics in service to Donald Trump. Last. question here. Do you presume in the. aftermath of all of this of seeing how. easy it is for so many of these Trump. aligned figures to abuse their positions. of power. to really undermine our democracy? Do. you think that we're going to see any. movement from these state bar councils. to to make more stringent the laws that.

govern each individual bar? That's a great question. I mean, they. may decide that they need to tighten up. their own codes of ethics to guard. against what we now see, which is that. lots of lawyers being willing to. abandon, you know, the ethics of their. practice in service to a President of. the United States. I guess it's that. allure of power for some people. So it. may cause them to kind of rethink what.

their own code of ethics say and it. might even get them to rethink the the. procedures that should be in place to. make sure you move through these things. quickly because there's nothing more. damaging to our democracy than for a. criminal and corrupt president to be. able to, you know, put together a cadre. of unethical lawyers to try to undermine. the expressed will of the American. voters with consequences being somewhere. downstream a year, two years, three.

years down the road. That doesn't seem. to be the best way to approach these. kind of dramatic anti-democratic abuses. of the system. Yeah, perfectly put. For. those who are watching right now, if. you'd like to stay on top of our legal. analysis, the best way to do that is to. subscribe to both of our channels. So. I'm going to put those links right here. on the screen and also in the post. description. If you're not yet signed. up, it's completely free to subscribe, but just make sure to hit those. subscribe buttons. I'm Brian Tyler. Cohen. And I'm Glenn Kirschner. You're. watching the Legal Breakdown.

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