This past June, FBI agents seized a cell phone belonging to one of former President Donald Trump’s election lawyers.
While the attorney is attempting to get his phone back, a federal judge recently told him that it’s not going to happen.
Judge says phone confiscation did not produce “irreparable harm”
According to Politico, New Mexico-based Senior U.S. District Court Judge Robert Brack ruled on Friday that lawyer John Eastman had failed to show “irreparable harm” stemming from his phone’s confiscation.
Brack pointed to how Eastman has since obtained a replacement phone and thus had no pressing need to get back the one that law enforcement officers took from him.
“Eastman wholly fails to show and in fact disclaims any need for the actual phone,” Brack argued in his 17-page ruling. Further, Brack went on to say that Eastman’s other complaints needed to be heard by another judge.
“Eastman’s argument regarding privileged material fails for the same reason that his argument on the purported First Amendment violation fails: he is pressing this issue with the wrong court,” Brack said.
“Should Eastman be concerned that the Government has access to material protected by the attorney-client privilege or work-product doctrine, he may file a motion for relief in the District of Columbia,” the judge continued.
Eastman says phone contains “privileged communications” with clients
This past June, Eastman spoke about the FBI’s seizure of his phone during an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
Tucker Carlson Interviews Conservative Lawyer John Eastman To Discuss The Democrats’ January 6th Witch-Hunt & The FBI Seizing His Phone Without Showing Him A Warrant pic.twitter.com/Ei1ZY3IzpX
— The Columbia Bugle 🇺🇸 (@ColumbiaBugle) June 28, 2022
“The authority to seize all of my information in modern smartphones — that’s access to all my private financial records,” Eastman told Carlson.
“It’s all my privileged communications with nearly a hundred different clients that I have currently. [This] is what we used to call a ‘general warrant’ that the British king issued to rummage through someone’s belongings to see if they can find evidence of some crime,” he added.
“This is just another reminder [for] anyone who didn’t vote for Joe Biden to erase your texts and emails every day,” Carlson replied.