Jan. 6 Committee Harassing Targets, Engaging in ‘Fishing Expedition’: Lawyers

5

Free the POWs.

Majority Of Americans Say Biden Has Gone Too Far Prosecuting Political Opponents: Poll

Jan. 6 Committee Harassing Targets, Engaging in ‘Fishing Expedition’: Lawyers

By John Ransom, The Epoch Times, October 11, 2022 Updated: October 12, 2022

As the House Jan. 6 committee heads towards its final public hearing, lawyers are criticizing the panel for engaging in overreach and harassing targets through onerous document production requests.

Story continues below advertisement

The comments were made as the committee is currently locked in a battle with former President Donald Trump’s election attorney John Eastman on the production of 576 emails subpoenaed by the panel. The committee in an Oct. 3 filing before a federal district court argued that Eastman was improperly holding back documents, under the guise of attorney-client privilege and attorney work-product privilege.

Eastman, 62, helped prepare legal filings for Trump that contested the results of the 2020 presidential election in several states. The committee has contended, in part, that the filings were an attempt to overthrow the government.

Eastman’s attorneys, in response, accused the committee of attempting to undermine the attorney-client relationship.

His lawyers further said that the court has already ruled on the matter and found in the vast majority of cases for Eastman’s claim that attorney-client privilege prevented Eastman from disclosing the documents to the committee

“Judge Carter found Dr. Eastman’s privilege logs perfectly adequate to dismiss a majority of the January 6 Committee’s attempts to subvert attorney-client privilege,” said Eastman’s attorneys from Burnham & Gorokhov said in the statement.

As proof of Eastman’s alleged attempts to improperly shield documents from investigators, the Jan. 6 committee released an email between Trump’s election lawyers in which they joked about Trump.

One of the email’s authors, former Trump lawyer Bruce Marks, accused the committee of releasing the exchange in an attempt to embarrass Trump’s lawyers.

“At the time of the emails on December 30 and 31, 2020, Professor Eastman, Ken Chesebro, and I were representing President Trump in litigating a U.S. Supreme Court petition filed on December 23,” Marks told Politico. “These emails were part of a privileged exchange. Regardless of whether specific tongue in cheek emails were protected by the attorney-client privilege, they were clearly protected by First Amendment rights of political association and free speech.”

‘Fishing Expedition’ 

One lawyer who has defended a half-a-dozen people who have been charged as a result of actions at the Capitol on Jan. 6. applauded Eastman and his attorneys for pushing back.

“The Committee’s endless speculation does not trump the power of attorney-client privilege,” attorney Joseph McBride told The Epoch Times in an email. McBride has a reputation for fiercely criticizing the government for its detention and prosecution of people regarding the events of Jan. 6.

“More people need to stand up to these communist psychopaths. I, for one, am glad that John Eastman is doing it,” he added.

Another lawyer who is suing the government over the seizure of phone records cautions said that the dispute between Eastman and the committee was only a small part of the panel’s excesses.

“I think [Eastman’s lawyers] were basically trying to show the court that that was a claim of attorney-client privilege that applied to that email. But the larger issues in the Jan. 6 Committee is they are overreaching,” Paul Kamenar, an attorney with the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), a conservative watchdog group, told The Epoch Times.

The NLPC is suing the select committee over phone records of a Jan. 6 protest organizer that the panel demanded in their probe.

“They’re not respecting that attorney-client privilege and work-product privilege. And even so, some of this is first amendment protected communications that we have,” Kamenar said.

To Kamenar, the committee has exceeded its authority.

“I think at this point, it’s just a matter of a fishing expedition and harassment, as I see it, and there’s no more need for any other emails from other people,” he said about the continued investigation of the panel, adding that there are no new facts being discovered by the committee.

McBride said that the continuation of the committee is just being used to hurt so-called MAGA-Republicans, without really investigating what happened.

“The committee is, without question, suppressing exculpatory evidence. It is also selectively editing videos to proffer a narrative to the public that caricatures all MAGA Republicans in the light of domestic extremism,” McBride said, noting that the same members of Congress gave Hillary Clinton a pass when she “destroyed 33,000 emails” she improperly kept on a private email server when she was secretary of state.

The Truth Must be Told

Your contribution supports independent journalism

Please take a moment to consider this. Now, more than ever, people are reading Geller Report for news they won't get anywhere else. But advertising revenues have all but disappeared. Google Adsense is the online advertising monopoly and they have banned us. Social media giants like Facebook and Twitter have blocked and shadow-banned our accounts. But we won't put up a paywall. Because never has the free world needed independent journalism more.

Everyone who reads our reporting knows the Geller Report covers the news the media won't. We cannot do our ground-breaking report without your support. We must continue to report on the global jihad and the left's war on freedom. Our readers’ contributions make that possible.

Geller Report's independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our work is critical in the fight for freedom and because it is your fight, too.

Please contribute here.

or

Make a monthly commitment to support The Geller Report – choose the option that suits you best.

Quick note: We cannot do this without your support. Fact. Our work is made possible by you and only you. We receive no grants, government handouts, or major funding. Tech giants are shutting us down. You know this. Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Adsense, Pinterest permanently banned us. Facebook, Google search et al have shadow-banned, suspended and deleted us from your news feeds. They are disappearing us. But we are here.

Subscribe to Geller Report newsletter here— it’s free and it’s essential NOW when informed decision making and opinion is essential to America's survival. Share our posts on your social channels and with your email contacts. Fight the great fight.

Follow Pamela Geller on Gettr. I am there. click here.

Follow Pamela Geller on
Trump's social media platform, Truth Social. It's open and free.

Remember, YOU make the work possible. If you can, please contribute to Geller Report.

Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spammy or unhelpful, click the - symbol under the comment to let us know. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

If you would like to join the conversation, but don't have an account, you can sign up for one right here.

If you are having problems leaving a comment, it's likely because you are using an ad blocker, something that break ads, of course, but also breaks the comments section of our site. If you are using an ad blocker, and would like to share your thoughts, please disable your ad blocker. We look forward to seeing your comments below.

5 1 vote
Article Rating
5 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Walter Sieruk
Walter Sieruk
1 year ago

That January 6th committee isn’t engaging in an objective investigation of possible wrongdoing.

What that committee is really doing is making a left-wing “witch hunt ” and framing of many patriotic Conservative Americans

Snowedin
Snowedin
1 year ago

The January 6th committee is a Tax wasting 3 ring circus and a total Joke. Every one on the committee is Anti-Trump and biased. They need to be disbanded immediately.

BeverlyD
Beverly
1 year ago

October 13, 2022
Rachel Madow – People weren’t from the rally.
https://citizenfreepress.com/breaking/trump-just-posted-this-j6-video/

Last edited 1 year ago by Beverly
Klang
Klang
1 year ago

They have nothing better to do with our tax dollars

TRM
TRM
1 year ago

If it’s a fishing expedition they’ve landed some very big fish.

Sponsored
Geller Report
Thanks for sharing!