‘Get a Great F’ing Criminal Defense Lawyer’: Cheney Teases Next Jan. 6 Hearing With Clip of Trump White House Lawyer Telling Off John Eastman

Alex GriffingJun 14th, 2022, 6:48 pm
 

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) put out a video on Tuesday previewing what the next Jan. 6 Committee hearing would focus on. Cheney explained that Thursday’s hearing will center around then-President Donald Trump’s efforts to pressure his vice president, Mike Pence, to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

In the clip, Cheney also shared new footage of Trump’s former White House lawyer Eric Herschmann saying in a deposition before the committee that he urged John Eastman on Jan. 7 to hire a good criminal defense lawyer because “you’re going to need it.”

Herschmann recalled confronting Eastman, a right-wing lawyer who pushed Trump’s wild election fraud claims, the day after the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“I said to him, ‘are you out of your effing mind. I only want to hear two words coming out of your mouth for now on: orderly transition,’” Herschmann says in the clip Cheney shared.

While that tape had aired previously, the clip highlights Herschmann offering Eastman “the best free legal advice you are ever going to get in your life.”

“Get a great f’ing criminal defense lawyer, you are going to need it,” Herschmann said he told Eastman.

CNN’s Manu Raju noted on Monday that there exists “A split between the top two members of the committee after Thompson tells reporters that they don’t plan to make criminal referrals.”

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), the chairman of the Jan. 6 Committee, appeared to break with Cheney who tweeted, “The January 6th Select Committee has not issued a conclusion regarding potential criminal referrals. We will announce a decision on that at an appropriate time.”

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Alex Griffing - Senior Editor

Alex Griffing is a Senior Editor at Mediaite. Send tips via email: alexanderg@mediaite.com. Follow him on Twitter: @alexgriffing