Posts Tagged: indictment

Will the real John Eastman please stand up?

John Eastman, photo via Associated Press

by BRIAN JOSEPH posted 09.07.2023

John Eastman has been alternatively described as a brilliant legal scholar, a mild-mannered political animal and co-conspirator in a plot to illegally overturn an election. But just who is John Eastman really? Since he transmogrified from a relatively anonymous, dial-a-quote law professor in Orange County to one of the supposed masterminds of Donald Trump’s Hail Mary ploy to hold onto the presidency, Eastman and his once-sterling reputation have been irrevocably tarnished, putting both his career and freedom in jeopardy.

An attempt by journalists to force the disclosure of appointment records, calendars, schedules and related material of two former lawmakers facing corruption charges in an FBI undercover probe was put on hold Friday. Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny heard oral arguments and is expected to make a final ruling within 90 days. The day before, Kenny issued a tentative ruling that favored the reporters in a lawsuit against the Legislature seeking access to the records.

Federal prosecutors asked a judge to allow three FBI undercover agents to testify in disguise with the public excluded in the upcoming corruption trial of former Sen. Ronald Calderon, who is accused of taking more than $80,000 in bribes. The U.S. Attorney’s office in Los Angeles said the three agents – who were at the heart of an investigation that spanned several years – would be placed at risk if they were forced to testify in public.

Suspended state Sen. Leland Yee, caught in a years-long FBI undercover investigation into a Chinatown-linked criminal network, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on corruption charges, wire fraud and conspiracy to smuggle guns. Yee, 65, is one of 29 people named in the indictment handed down Thursday and unveiled Friday. Yee, arrested March 26 in a pre-dawn raid, is free on $500,000 bond.