John Eastman, the Trump lawyer who helped conceive the failed effort to overturn the 2020 election, falsely said on a podcast appearance that Trump has the power to unilaterally implement voter ID, paper ballots, and other anti-voting policies.

Wednesday, November 12

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John Eastman, the Trump lawyer who helped conceive the failed effort to overturn the 2020 election, falsely said on a podcast appearance that Trump has the power to unilaterally implement voter ID, paper ballots, and other anti-voting policies. Also in this week’s Eye On The Right: The Trump administration is still trying to figure out how to free Tina Peters, the Oath Keepers are back, says their founder, and more.

As always, thanks for reading.

Matt Cohen, senior reporter



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John Eastman believes Trump has the power to implement voter ID, paper ballots, and other anti-voting policies

- John Eastman, the Trump lawyer who helped conceive the failed effort to overturn the 2020 election, kind of faded away for a while. But he’s back, and still spouting wild and bogus legal theories. Lately: Trump has the power to unilaterally implement voter ID, paper ballots, and other anti-voting policies.

- Eastman was a guest recently on Tea Party Patriots founder Jenny Beth Martin’s podcast ([link removed] ) , where he explained that, despite what the U.S. Constitution says about states setting election rules, a president’s order can override state policies. “The president's executive order has tapped into, I mean basic things like… voter ID in order to be able to vote,” he said.

- Numerous provisions of Trump’s sweeping anti-voting order — including proof of citizenship for voter registration — have been blocked by courts. But litigation ([link removed] ) is ongoing.

- Eastman also expressed a desire for all states to use paper ballots for elections, and a hope that the U.S. Supreme Court will make it easier for candidates to have standing to challenge election rules — an issue the court is set to weigh in on ([link removed] ) .

Election conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi said he was briefed on Trump’s forthcoming elections executive order

- Longtime right-wing conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi said ([link removed] ) on a recent episode of his podcast that he was briefed “a long time ago” on Trump’s forthcoming voting executive order, and that it will include voter ID and documentary proof of citizenship mandates.

- The White House said ([link removed] ) last week that an anti-voting order is on the way. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt pledged the order would “ensure that there cannot be blatant fraud, as we’ve seen in California, with their universal mail-in voting system.”

- Corsi’s long been a controversial figure looming in the periphery of Trumpworld; he has close ties to former Trump advisor Roger Stone and was subpoenaed in 2018 by Special Counsel Robert Mueller over his involvement in the WikiLeaks scandal.

Election deniers and anti-voting activists respond to Trump’s 2020 election pardons

- In a largely symbolic move, Trump pardoned ([link removed] ) 77 allies who helped him try to steal the 2020 election. The pardons only apply to federal charges, and none of those identified in the proclamation were charged on federal crimes. Still, election deniers and anti-voting activists cheered the move.

- "When we went back and looked at it, our goal was to pardon these electors, and when you pardon the alternate electors you've gotta make the case and look closely at it,” said ([link removed] ) Ed Martin, the far-right U.S. Department of Justice pardon attorney. “And what we saw was people, ordinary Americans, regular people, and their lawyers and others, saying 'let's use the system the way we're supposed to."

- Jeffrey Clark, who helped engineer the plot to steal 2020 as a Justice Department lawyer and is now a Trump administration official, said he did nothing wrong to begin with. “I wish I could be declaring this legal nonsense over for good — a pardon should totally and abruptly kill off these federal bar and Georgia-federal attacks on me and many others.”

- Conservative attorney and anti-voting activist Cleta Mitchell, who was also involved in Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss (but was not one of the pardons), praised ([link removed] ) Trump and Martin on social media, calling the pardons an “answer to prayer.”

- In an ominous social media post, Monica Crowley, the former Fox News host who is now the State Department’s chief of protocol, said ([link removed] ) “the truth about the 2020 election is coming. Buckle up."

The Trump administration still wants to free election conspiracy theorist Tina Peters

- Martin said the administration is still figuring out a way to free Tina Peters, the Colorado election clerk who was sentenced to nine years in prison for her role in a voting system data breach.

- On social media, Martin responded to calls for the administration to free Peters, saying that he is “working on it.” CNN reported ([link removed] ) that Martin is leading the effort within the Trump administration to get Peters out of prison. Meanwhile, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche is reportedly ([link removed] ) trying to get the Bureau of Prisons to find a way to transfer Peters from state prison to federal custody.

- Peters was sentenced on state charges, meaning there’s little — if anything — the administration can do to free her. Nonetheless, Trump and his cronies have said for months they’re working on it. So maybe “working on it” is their way of saying, “we know we can’t do this but don’t want to admit that.”

The Oath Keepers are back, their founder claims

- Remember the Oath Keepers? You know, the far-right paramilitary group partially responsible for starting the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021? Sounds like they’re back! Speaking with election conspiracy theorist Jim Hoft on the Gateway Pundit podcast, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes said ([link removed] ) he’s “relaunching” the organization.

- “They tried to take us out after January 6 but what man means for evil, God will use for good,” Rhodes said. “I came out stronger after it, and so my goal is to rebuild the organization stronger than ever because it's an essential mission.”

- Rhodes and nine other Oath Keepers were convicted of seditious conspiracy for their roles in the Jan. 6 riot — but Trump commuted their prison sentences when he returned to office. It’s unclear what the relaunched Oath Keepers will look like, but Rhodes said on the podcast that he wanted to let Trump know that “we're ready to serve” and encouraged the president “to call us up as a militia.”

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