CNN host confronts Trump lawyer refusing rally speech instigated by deadly Capitol riot

On Saturday, CNN host Michael Smerconish confronted John Eastman, who had been counsel for former President Donald Trump in one of his election results lawsuits, questioning the incitement rioters who stormed the Capitol on January 6, which led to the five people. death.

During the tense exchange, Eastman, who spoke at the “Save America” rally on January 6, told Smerconish that there was no connection between the protesters he addressed and the rioters who violated the Capitol.

Smerconish asked about the language Eastman and Rudy Giuliani, another of Trump’s attorneys, used during the rally, and his responsibility in the rioting attack on Capitol Hill. He released a clip of Eastman telling the rallyers, “This is bigger than President Trump. It is the essence of our Republican form of government, and it has to be done, and anyone who is not willing. to do it., does not deserve to be in the office. “Eastman had seconds before insisted that Vice President Mike Pence” leave the state legislatures[s] examine this so that we get to the bottom of the question of whether the elections were illegally certified.

Smerconish, after confirming that one of the people Eastman referred to in the video was Pence, then showed a clip of rioters chanting “Hang on Mike Pence”. The host asked if there was a connection between his lyrics and those sung on Capitol Hill. Eastman has denied responsibility, in part noting the distance between the rally and the Capitol, although rioters can of course watch the rally’s speeches on their cellphones.

“It was two miles away. To make that causal link, you have to show that one of these people has something to do with hearing my statement two miles away in front of the ellipse, but I’m not going to let you go What was said … immediately before that statement you have now read and played? was that Pence would have simply been asked by the legislatures to delay the proceedings enough for those legislatures to determine if their illegally accredited voters should nonetheless come forward. That’s what we were talking about. So don’t take it out of context to make it sound like I was saying something that I wasn’t, “Eastman replied.

Smerconish asked if those who stormed Capitol Hill understood what he meant about voters. “The people who stormed the Capitol were not within earshot of what I said. Yes, that was understood by … the people in the White House mall,” said Eastman before trying to explain his position to voters again.

Eastman called for those who stormed the Capitol to be brought to justice. “What happened on Capitol Hill was a travesty, and anyone implicated in violating this Capitol should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” he said. “This shouldn’t apply to people who were peacefully expressing their point of view that something was wrong and wrong with this election, and we have to get to the bottom of it.”

Eastman concluded by emphasizing the importance of fair elections and ensuring that state laws are not violated. To this Smerconish replied, “How my parents raised me: a time and a place, a time and a place, and that was not the role of Congress on January 6.”

Earlier in the interview, the CNN host asked if Eastman or other speakers at the rally knew the attendees would be invading the Capitol. Eastman said the rally attendees were not part of the incursion into the Capitol, which had already started even before the ellipsis in front of the White House ended, ”he said. declared.

When Smerconish pointed out that the two were at a distance from each other, Eastman asked for evidence of protesters’ involvement in the riot and accused the host of assuming. The host rephrased his question to be more comprehensive, and Eastman said the militias and Antifa were organizing without the knowledge of those involved in the rally.

“What we have learned from The Washington Post just two days ago, there was a paramilitary group, as well as Antifa groups, which organized [storming the Capitol] three to four days in advance. We had no knowledge of this, ”he said.

Although some conspiracy theorists share the idea that the Antifa members posing as Trump supporters were in fact the ones invading the Capitol, the FBI said on Jan.8 that it had no evidence of this. . When asked which Antifa members were arrested in connection with the riots, Eastman appeared to refer to a left-wing activist who had been arrested in connection with the riot.

CNN political scholar Sophia A. Nelson criticized Smerconish for having Eastman on the show at all in a tweet. She called the lawyer “a traitor. A liar. A Trumpthuglican,” the latter a coat rack of the words Trump, thug, and Republican.

It is wrong to give a platform to Trump’s liars @smerconish and who blames the seditious riot on #Antifa or #Blacklivesmatter he advances the #Big lie John Eastman is a traitor. A liar. A Trumpthuglican !!! This man lies and turns on live tv @CNN

– Sophia A. Nelson (@IAmSophiaNelson) 23 January 2021

Eastman, a visiting professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder, was recently relieved of “his outreach and speaking duties as a representative of the Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization.” Having him perform these tasks can be “disruptive and harm the interests of the campus and the Benson Center,” according to a college statement.

Newsweek has contacted the Claremont Institute, a conservative think tank of which Eastman is a member, for comment.