Trump campaign lawyer John Eastman said federal agents seized his phone last week during the execution of a search warrant, according to CNN.
Eastman disclosed the seizure in a motion filed on Monday in the U.S. District Court in New Mexico asking for the return of his property.
Eastman said about six federal investigators approached him with a search warrant last Wednesday in New Mexico when he was exiting a restaurant after dinner with his wife and a friend.
He argued that the warrant was unlawful because it was overly broad, nonspecific, lacked probable cause and violated his Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights because he was “forced to provide [facial] biometric data to open” the phone which gave agents access to his email accounts.
Eastman drafted memos arguing that then-Vice President Mike Pence could reject states’ electors and choose the winner of the November 2020 presidential election.
According to CNN, the search came on the same day federal agents from the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General raided the home of former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark.
The House Select Committee investigating the Capitol riot recently showed footage of Clark and Eastman repeatedly invoking their 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination during closed-door testimony.
