A California appellate disciplinary panel on Friday affirmed the recommendation to disbar former Trump attorney John Eastman, concluding he lied to courts in efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.

In a decision dated June 13 and made public on Saturday, the State Bar Court’s Review Department upheld an earlier judge’s conclusion that Eastman committed “multiple acts of moral turpitude” by advancing baseless legal claims of voter fraud.

The court found Eastman promoted the plan to pressure former Vice President Mike Pence to disrupt certification of the election results, Law & Crime reported.

According to the court’s opinion, Eastman made false and misleading statements in legal filings, advanced frivolous arguments, and pushed a plan to pressure Pence to reject certified Electoral College results on Jan. 6, 2021.

The panel concluded Eastman’s conduct “undermined democracy itself” and warranted disbarment.

The decision follows a March 2024 ruling by State Bar Court Judge Yvette Roland, who found Eastman culpable on 10 of 11 disciplinary charges after a 35-day trial.

That ruling cited Eastman’s repeated claims of widespread voter fraud — claims the court said he knew or should have known were false.

Courthouse News Service reported Eastman responded to those claims by arguing, “To accuse me of making false statements runs afoul of my First Amendment right to raise questions.”

Eastman appealed Roland’s decision earlier this year. Oral arguments before the Review Department took place in March.

Attorneys for Eastman said he was advocating for his client, but that argument was rejected by the panel, which said he “propagated falsehoods that misled the courts and the public.”

George Cardona, chief trial counsel for the State Bar, said in a June 13 statement that Eastman “caused incalculable harm to public confidence in the integrity of elections and the rule of law.”

Eastman’s California law license is suspended. Unless the California Supreme Court reverses the ruling, Eastman will be unable to practic law.

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