Donald Trump's former attorney adviser John Eastman, widely viewed as the architect of the scheme to use fake slates of electors to overturn the 2020 presidential vote, has pleaded not guilty in an Arizona election interference case.
"I, of course, plead not guilty," Eastman said following a brief hearing in Phoenix Friday, CNN reported. "I'm confident that, with the laws faithfully applied, I will be exonerated at the end of this process."
Eastman was released from custody without conditions.
He and over a dozen other Trump allies have been indicted in the case for their alleged attempts to upend the 2020 election to turn the former presidents defeat into victory, contradicting the vote.
Trump was not named in the Arizona court action, but is believed to be the unidentified "unindicted co-conspirator 1" referred to in the court papers.
Eastman is also a co-defendant with others in a separate case in Georgia, where prosecutors have accused Trump of working with lawyers and aides to overturn the 2020 presidential election there.
Eastman also pleaded not guilty in the Georgia case.
Eastman came under fire for his written strategies on how to overturn the election — often referred to as "coup memos" by critics — which he wrote after Trump's defeat. They detailed ways in which then-Vice President Mike Pence could overturn the election results, despite no evidence of election fraud, including rejecting legitimate electoral votes.
He later characterized the strategies as simply ideas for "internal discussion" for the White House legal team.
A Callifornia judge earlier this month rejected Eastman's request to reactivate his law license while he fights disbarment.
