The turbulent closing weeks of Trump’s presidency were marked by tensions between Eric Herschmann and other advisors who urged the president to challenge the election results. Additionally, he attended several of the period’s most pivotal gatherings. There was a high-stakes meeting when most of the top brass in the Trump administration’s Justice Department vowed to retire rather than serve under a colleague who wanted to pursue bogus accusations of massive election fraud.
Scoop: Former Trump White House lawyer Eric Herschmann has received a grand jury subpoena as part of the Jan. 6 probe. Story to come
— Betsy Woodruff Swan (@woodruffbets) August 15, 2022
Herschmann also argued with Sidney Powell and Michael Flynn when they asked Trump to have the armed services confiscate voting equipment. Herschmann and Powell, and Flynn were on opposite sides of the argument. The January 6 select committee has broadcast various chunks of his evidence to their panel, which can be found to be direct and occasionally humorous in a morbid way.
A representative from Herschmann’s camp declined to provide further details. The Justice Department said they couldn’t say anything.
According to Politico, Herschmann told the select committee that on January 3, 2021, he and other White House staff members publicly criticized Jeffrey Clark, a senior attorney at the Justice Department, at a discussion at the White House. During that time, Clark advocated for himself and asked Trump to replace Acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen with himself.
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Clark urged his fellow attorneys general to write letters to state lawmakers warning of suspicious voting fraud in the 2020 election. However, former Attorney General Bill Barr stated that the government uncovered no evidence of fraud that might have swayed the election. Many of Clark’s coworkers told Trump in that January 3 meeting that they would leave if Clark were promoted because they were concerned over his intentions.
Herschmann told the special committee that he thought Clark’s proposal was “asinine,” and he joked about Clark’s background as an environmental lawyer.
“I thought Jeff’s proposal — Clark’s proposal was nuts,” Herschmann told the committee. “I mean this guy, at a certain point, ‘Listen, the best I can tell is the only thing you know about environmental, and elections challenges is they both start with E. And based on your answers tonight, I’m not even certain you know that.’”
Herschmann also disclosed to the special committee his argumentative conversation with Trump associate and attorney John Eastman on the phone on January 7, 2021. Despite the bloodshed at the Capitol the day before, Eastman called to discuss continuing to pursue Trump’s efforts to reverse the election.
“And I said to him, ‘Are you out of your F-ing mind?’” Herschmann explained to the group. “I said, ‘I only want to hear two words coming out of your mouth from now on: orderly transition.’” Herschmann claims that Eastman articulated those thoughts at some point in the end. “I said, ‘Good, John. Now I’m going to give you the best free legal advice you’re ever getting in your life: Get a great F-ing criminal defense lawyer. You’re going to need it,’” Herschmann added. “And then I hung up on him.”
