A Republican attorney who assisted former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results and who has been regularly cited in House hearings on the January 6 attack on the Capitol stated on Monday that federal investigators seized his cellphone last week.

John Eastman stated that the agents confiscated his phone as he exited a restaurant last Wednesday evening, the same day law enforcement officials conducted similar activity across the country as part of extensive investigations into efforts by Trump allies to overturn the election results in a failed attempt to keep the Republican president in office.

Eastman stated that the agents who approached him identified themselves as FBI agents but appeared to be serving a warrant on behalf of the justice department's office of the inspector general, which, according to Eastman, has no authority to investigate him because he has never worked for the department.

In a court petition in New Mexico, Eastman questions the legitimacy of the request, calling it unduly broad, and asks the court to order the federal authorities to return his phone. The lawsuit does not explain where agents grabbed his phone, and Eastman's attorney did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.

Last week, federal authorities served a slew of subpoenas relating to a plot by Trump backers to submit false lists of electors to invalidate the election won by Democrat Joe Biden. Also, on that day, authorities searched the Virginia home of Jeffrey Clark, a member of the Trump administration's justice department who encouraged Trump to contest the election results.

A spokesperson for the office of the inspector general declined to comment.
Eastman, who resigned as a law professor at Chapman University last year, has been a significant character in the continuing hearings by the House committee investigating the Capitol incident. However, he has not been called a witness.

The committee has heard testimony regarding Eastman's unorthodox, last-ditch effort to challenge the 130-year-old Electoral Count Act, which governs the process of counting election results in Congress.

The committee has heard testimony on how Eastman urged Vice President Mike Pence to diverge from his ceremonial role and delay the certification of the electoral votes, despite Pence's lack of legal authority and refusal to attempt such a move.

Eastman intended for the states to send alternative slates of electors from states Trump was contesting, including Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

With rival slates for Trump or Biden, Pence would be required to reject them and send them back to the states to be resolved.

In a hearing held earlier this month, Pence's attorney, Greg Jacob, recounted how he had resisted Eastman's demand. During his interview with the committee, Eastman frequently invoked his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination, as captured on tape.

According to an email he sent to Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, which was given to the committee, Eastman later requested to be "on the pardon list."