Eastman is appealing a court order to turn over emails to the commission from Jan. 6

John Eastman, a lawyer for the Trump campaign who helped craft its strategy to counter the certification of the 2020 election results, appealed to a federal appeals court after being ordered to turn over emails to a House committee. investigative January 6, 2021 , attack.

On Thursday, Eastman asked California federal judge David Carter to delay an order forcing him to turn over several emails to the commission after he ruled they were not protected by attorney-client privilege.

Carter ruled earlier this month that the communications were not protected because they were likely exchanged in furtherance of a crime, igniting the criminal fraud exception.

Among those emails was a memo from Eastman stating that former President Trump had been told that a lawsuit filed in December in Georgia alleging unregistered voters and dead people voted in elections there might not exact numbers — relaying that concern before the campaign escalated the matter to federal court.

“Even though the president signed a check for [the state court filing] on December 1, he has since been advised that some of the allegations (and the evidence presented by the experts) were inaccurate. For him to sign a new check with that knowledge (and incorporation by reference) would not be accurate,” Eastman said.

Carter ordered the email released to the committee.

“President Trump and his lawyers ended up filing the complaint with the same inaccurate numbers without correcting, clarifying or otherwise changing them,” Carter wrote. “In addition, President Trump signed an affidavit swearing under oath that the included, inaccurate numbers ‘are true and correct’ or ‘believed to be true and correct to the best of his knowledge and belief.'”

“The emails show that President Trump knew the specific voter fraud numbers were wrong, but continued to tout those numbers both in court and to the public. The Court finds that these emails are sufficiently related to and in furtherance of a conspiracy to defraud the United States.

Earlier this week, Eastman asked Carter to delay his decision, suggesting that additional emails would exonerate Trump on that front.

“The affidavit and subpoenas make clear that no false information was knowingly filed by the president or his attorneys and that the complaint was not filed with an improper purpose,” Eastman’s attorney wrote in the filing.

Carter quickly rejected that offer Friday, sending the matter to the appeals court.

Eastman produced two memos for the Trump campaign detailing methods to oppose the certification of President Biden’s victory, including one advocating for then-Vice President Mike Pence to relinquish his ceremonial duties to certify the election results.

Carter previously found in March that it was more likely that Trump had committed crimes as part of his plot to stay in power.