Eastman memos
The Eastman memos, also known as the "coup memo", are documents by John Eastman, an American law professor retained by then-President Donald Trump advancing the fringe legal theory that a U.S. Vice President has unilateral authority to reject certified State electors. This would have the effect of nullifying an election in order to produce an outcome personally desired by the Vice President, such as a result in the Vice President's own party's favor, including retaining himself as Vice President, or if the Vice President is himself the presidential candidate, then to unilaterally make himself president.
| Attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election | |
|---|---|
The electoral map for the 2020 election. Blue denotes the 306 electoral votes for Biden, while Red denotes the 232 electoral votes for Trump. | |
| Date | November 4, 2020 – January 7, 2021 (2 months and 3 days) |
| Location | |
| Caused by | Fabricated claims of electoral fraud |
| Resulted in | Failure to overturn election; Joe Biden inaugurated January 20, 2021 |
Trump and Eastman used the memos in an unsuccessful campaign to pressure then-vice president Mike Pence into preventing or nullifying the 2021 United States Electoral College vote count, and eventually overturning the 2020 United States election of Joe Biden, so that Trump could retain power.
The Trump campaign engaged Eastman with a formal retainer agreement signed December 5 for services in litigating the election outcome. The memos have been described as an instruction manual for a coup d'état.