Agents seize phone of key Jan. 6 figure
Eastman, adviser to Trump, files motion to get property back
Federal agents armed with a search warrant have seized the phone of John Eastman, a lawyer who advised former President Donald Trump on key elements of the effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election, according to a court filing by Eastman on Monday.
The filing, a motion to recover property from the government, said FBI agents in New Mexico, acting on behalf of the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General, stopped Eastman as he was leaving a restaurant Wednesday and seized his iphone. A copy of the warrant included as an exhibit in Eastman’s filing said the phone would be taken to either the Justice Department or the inspector general’s forensic lab in northern Virginia.
The seizure of Eastman’s phone is the latest evidence that the Justice Department is intensifying its sprawling criminal investigation into the various strands of Trump’s efforts to remain in power after he was defeated for reelection.
In the past week alone, the department has delivered grand jury subpoenas to a variety of figures with roles in backing Trump’s efforts and carried out at least one other search of a key figure.
According to the filing, the seizure of Eastman’s phone came on the same day that federal agents raided the home and seized the electronic devices of Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official who was central to Trump’s attempts to coerce the department’s leaders into backing his false claims of fraud in the election.
Supporters of Clark have said the inspector general’s office, which has jurisdiction over investigations of Justice Department employees, also issued the warrant in the search of his home.
A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, which is overseeing the inquiry, declined to comment on Eastman’s court filing.