Former Trump attorney John Eastman is trying to get his law license back so that he can represent Reps. Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene in a political speech fight – and pay his own legal bills as he fights charges stemming from his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Eastman is asking a judge in California to reactivate his license following a disciplinary decision last month that rendered him unable to practice law for now.
According to a court filing this week, Eastman estimates he already owes more than $1 million to his lawyers and could face a bill of more than $3 million “even if he is fully exonerated” in the Georgia election subversion case. He is one of 15 remaining defendants, including former President Donald Trump. A trial isn’t yet scheduled.
The filing provides a rare window into the growing legal costs for Trump’s allies and into the scope of Eastman’s legal work since he promoted false information about the 2020 vote and tried to persuade then-Vice President Mike Pence to block the presidential transfer of power from Trump to Joe Biden.
The fallout Eastman faces from his 2020 election work was compounded last week, when Judge Yvette Roland, who serves as a judge overseeing state bar proceedings in California, decided he should be disbarred because of his court filings and other efforts on behalf of Trump.
That decision prompted his law license to be made inactive over the weekend, meaning he can’t have legal clients while he appeals the decision. Disbarment would ultimately have to be affirmed by the California Supreme Court.
“If the Order placing Dr. Eastman on inactive enrollment were not stayed, Dr. Eastman would lose his ability to make a living as an attorney at a time when other matters arising out of his representation of the…
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