The lawyer who helped then-President Donald Trump cook up plans to overturn the 2020 election reportedly refused to answer nearly 150 questions from the House panel investigating the Capitol riot. John Eastman spoke to the crowd of Trump supporters who went on to ransack the Capitol on Jan. 6 and was the author of a notorious memo on how Mike Pence could subvert the 2020 election result. Citing a lawyer for the House, CNN reports that Eastman invoked his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination in response to 146 questions from the panel, and refused to hand over documents requested by investigators. However, the silent treatment won’t be able to go on for much longer. CNN reports that, on Monday, a federal judge ordered Eastman to respond to a House subpoena of his former employer, Chapman University, for his emails. The ruling means the House panel should gain access to information it’s been seeking for months.
