One-time Trump lawyer turned defendant John Eastman has asked the US Circuit Court of Appeals to order the January 6th House Select Committee to destroy or return emails Eastman provided to it in accordance with a court order, but he asked the committee to not look at them until he appealed the lower court ruling, Politico reports.
A court order required Eastman to give the committee investigating the Republican-led domestic terrorist attack on Congress eight emails that U.S. District Court Judge David Carter characterized as likely describing a crime in which Eastman and Donald Trump committed. Eastman had provided a link to the emails to the committee, but requested the committee not access the emails until Eastman filed an appeal of Carter’s ruling.
The committee decided to deny the request, saying the documents were turned over after the deadline and that Carter denied Eastman’s earlier request to reconsider. Committee staffers accessed and downloaded the emails, Eastman said in a new court filing, but could destroy the information, a request that is unlikely to be granted by the court.