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Trump Attorney John Eastman Loses Bid to Protect His Phone From Feds

A federal judge said his challenge failed “to show a likelihood of success.”

John Eastman, a former attorney for ex-president Donald Trump, lost his emergency request to block the Justice Department from accessing the contents of his phone, CNN reports. Jan. 6 investigators had said the phone may contain evidence useful in the ongoing probe of the deadly Capitol insurrection. Eastman had asked a court to prevent federal investigators from searching his phone or using anything they find in the criminal inquiry, but a federal judge maintained the department’s search warrant was valid, so long as they get a second warrant to actually go through the device's contents as per norm. “Because there is no evidence that the Government has searched the phone or plans to search it without the benefit of a Filter Team, and because the warrant specifies that no search of the phone will occur until further order of the court, Eastman fails to show a likelihood of success,” U.S. District Judge Robert Brack wrote Friday. Brack also said the Justice Department must update him later this month on the situation, including whether or not they obtained a second valid warrant.