John Eastman reveals that he expects to be criminally indicted by Jack Smith

When Jack Smith’s latest criminal indictment of Donald Trump listed six unindicted co-conspirators, it seemed fairly clear that they too were on track for indictment. Now former Trump attorney John Eastman – who has already confirmed that he’s “co-conspirator 2” – is also putting it out there that he indeed expects to be indicted.

To that end, Eastman is now asking the state court to delay his disbarment hearing, specifically stating that he needs the delay because he expects to be criminally indicted. It’s not clear why Eastman thinks that such a delay is going to help him. If he’s already on track for disbarment for his actions, does he expect to be able to make a stronger defense argument once he’s been indicted for those actions?

It’s theoretically possible that Eastman is seeking this delay because he’s looking to cut a cooperating plea deal with the DOJ against Trump, and then use his cooperation as a show of good faith at his disbarment hearing. But we can’t imagine that saving him from disbarment, because he’d also be pleading guilty to his crimes as part of any such deal.

It seems more likely that the request for a delay in the disbarment hearing is simply a matter of desperation. There are only so many legal battles that John Eastman and his attorneys can fight at once. And if he’s in the process of being criminally indicted alongside Donald Trump, that would indeed take up all of his focus.

So even if the California court does end up granting Eastman’s request for a delay in his disbarment hearing, that wouldn’t be a bad thing. Instead it would be an acknowledgment by the state court that Eastman has far bigger and more pressing problems in federal court.