John Eastman asked for '1 more relatively minor violation' of election law in wake of Jan. 6 attack: VP aide

• Even after the Capitol riot, John Eastman kept asking former VP Mike Pence to halt proceedings.
• The January 6 committee showed an email from Eastman to Pence's counsel on the night of the attack.

Former Trump lawyer John Eastman asked former Vice President Mike Pence's counsel to break the law, in writing, on the night of January 6, 2021.

In his email at 11:44 p.m. after the US Capitol had been stormed by the pro-Trump mob, Eastman repeated his demand that Pence halt proceedings to certify the 2020 election and send it back to the states for a period of 10 days.

"So now that the precedent has been set that the Electoral Count Act is not quite so sacrosanct as was previously claimed, I implore you to consider one more relatively minor violation and adjourn for 10 days to allow the legislatures to finish their investigations, as well as to allow a full forensic audit of the massive amount of illegal activity that has occurred here," Eastman wrote.

The email sent to Pence lawyer Greg Jacob came after he, along with the former VP's staff and family, had been sheltering in place in a secure location during the riot. Former President Donald Trump did not call to check on Pence's safety, according to the testimony of several staffers, and Pence refused to be seen "fleeing" the Capitol amid the attack, his aide recalled.

Much of the committee's hearing on Thursday centered around establishing criminal intent to unlawfully overturn the election results by Trump associates.

Eastman, who invoked his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent 100 times in his deposition for the committee, had also written in a draft document that having Pence halt proceedings and change who would become president was illegal under the Electoral Count Act of 1887.