Probe finds 'potential criminal conspiracy' by ex-mayor of Anaheim
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Trump indictment hints at former OC law professor Eastman's involvement By City News Service
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Lawmakers propose $45M in new funding for measures to lower US stillbirth rate By Duaa Eldeib, ProPublica This story was originally published by ProPublica. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.
Some of the issues being covered in the state Bar hearing were also touched on in the indictment. For instance, Smith refers to an inaccurate accounting from a so-called elections expert in a lawsuit filed in Georgia that was signed off on by Eastman. Carter also referenced the same incident in his ruling. "Co-Conspirator 2 — who was advising the defendant on the lawsuit — acknowledged in an email that he and the defendant had, since signing a previous verification, 'been made aware that some of the allegations (and evidence proffered by the experts) has been inaccurate' and that signing a new affirmation 'with that knowledge (and incorporation by reference) would not be accurate," the indictment alleges. "The defendant and Co-Conspirator 2 caused the defendant's signed verification to be filed nonetheless." In the state Bar hearing, Eastman said he relied on his expert Bryan Geels, who merged two sets of numbers
Series: Stillbirths: When Babies Die Before Taking Their First Breath he U.S. has not prioritized stillbirth prevention, and American parents are losing babies even as other countries make larger strides to reduce deaths late in pregnancy. Members of Congress on Thursday introduced sweeping legislation that aims to reduce the country’s stillbirth rate, tackling gaps in research, data and awareness as well as authorizing tens of millions of dollars in new funding. If passed, the Stillbirth Health Improvement and Education (SHINE) for Autumn Act of 2023 would be the most comprehensive federal stillbirth law on record. Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., who introduced the bill in the House, called it “the first step in the right direction” to help prevent stillbirths and ensure healthy pregnancies. As a mother, grandmother and co-chair of the Maternity Care Caucus, Kim said she understands the challenges firsthand. She said that when one of her daughters lost a baby a few years ago, the doctor’s response was, “It happens.” “These experiences have made me want to be a part of the solution,” she said. “I want us to have more information and make sure things are better for my grandkids. We should be able to prevent the preventable.” Every year in the U.S., more than 20,000 pregnancies end in stillbirth, the death of an expected child at 20 weeks or more. Research shows as many as 1 in 4 stillbirths may be preventable, a figure that jumps to nearly half as the due date nears. But for years, the U.S. stillbirth crisis has been overlooked. ProPublica has reported extensively on the devastating effects of stillbirth on families and the country’s failure to prevent, prioritize and raise awareness around stillbirth. Stark racial disparities underscore the crisis, as Black women are more than twice as likely to have a stillbirth as white women. But government officials, doctors and researchers often cite the dearth of research, data and autopsies as barriers to change. Kim and other lawmakers lauded ProPublica’s reporting for bringing the stillbirth crisis to the forefront and revealing shortcomings in how the nation’s health care system was combating stillbirths. “ProPublica’s work has been so important for shedding light on the challenges related to stillbirth, amplifying the stories of mothers and women whose voices have not been heard, and highlighting the gaps in our stillbirth-related
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T Donald Trump, left, and John Eastman. | Photos courtesy of Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0) and Jeastman/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
W
hile he is not directly named in the indictment alleging ex-President Donald Trump conspired to attempt to overturn the election of President Joe Biden, language in the charging document released Tuesday indicates that one of six unnamed alleged co-conspirators is former Chapman University Law School professor John Eastman. The grand jury indictment of Trump quotes Eastman's speech on Jan. 6, 2021, before many in the crowd marched on the Capitol and rioted. "All we are demanding of Vice President (Mike) Pence is this afternoon at 1 p.m. he let the legislatures of the state look into this so we get to the bottom of it and the American people know whether we have control of the direction of our government or not," the indictment quotes "co-conspirator 2" telling the crowd. "We no longer live in a self-governing republic if we can't get the answer to this question." Eastman was one of the architects of a plan to
gather an alternative slate of electors in swing states where Biden won to either replace the ones who voted to certify Biden's election or to create enough debate that Pence could send the issue back to those states and stall the finalization of Biden's victory. In recent weeks, Eastman has defended his role in the plan as the state Bar of California considers yanking his law license. More hearings are slated for later this month. Eastman's role in the election as attorney for Trump also came to the fore in the Jan. 6 congressional hearings when Eastman sued Chapman University to block officials from releasing his e-mails to the congressional committee. In that civil case, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter ruled that thousands of those emails should be turned over despite Eastman's claim of attorneyclient privilege because of a "crime fraud exception." Eastman and his attorneys did not immediately respond to messages for comment. In the indictment released Tuesday, Special Counsel Jack
Smith describes co-conspirator 2 as "an attorney who devised and attempted to implement a strategy to leverage the vice president's ceremonial role overseeing the certification proceeding to obstruct the certification of the presidential election." In the indictment, co-conspirator 2 is accused on Jan. 4, 2021, of calling the "Arizona House Speaker to urge him to use a majority of the legislature to decertify the state's legitimate electors. Arizona's validly ascertained electors had voted three weeks earlier and sent their votes to Congress, which was scheduled to count those votes in Biden's favor in just two days' time at the January 6 certification proceeding. When the Arizona House Speaker explained that state investigations had uncovered no evidence of substantial fraud in the state, Co-Conspirator 2 conceded that he '(didn't) know enough about facts on the ground' in Arizona, but nonetheless told the Arizona House Speaker to decertify and 'let the courts sort it out.'"