Lawyer reveals Trump’s direct role in Jan. 6 plot

WASHINGTON — The conservative lawyer John Eastman, the architect of a strategy to overturn the 2020 election, dealt directly with President Donald Trump and received handwritten notes from him as the men sought to keep Trump in power, according to a new court filing.

The filing underscored how instrumental Eastman was in devising ways to fight Joe Biden’s victory, and how personally involved Trump was in the attempt to keep the presidency in his hands. It also provided further documentation of how members of the Trump campaign and White House aides were involved in the plans.

The filing came as the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol is preparing for public hearings in June about the attempt to overturn the election, and as more information has emerged about Eastman’s role in advising state officials in Pennsylvania to reject votes cast in favor of Biden.

Eastman did not release the contents of his communications, but he described them in general terms in a filing in his federal lawsuit in California against the House committee. He is fighting the release of hundreds of documents that the panel has demanded via subpoena, including by arguing that some are protected by attorney-client privilege.

In the filing on Thursday, Eastman argued that some of his emails with the White House and Trump campaign were covered by attorney-client privilege because, he said, the people he communicated with were functioning as “conduits” for or “agents” of Trump.

He said he mostly communicated with Trump using six intermediaries.