TimesOC: Former Chapman professor at center of Capitol riot investigation
Good morning and welcome to the TimesOC newsletter.
It’s Friday, March 11. I’m Ben Brazil, bringing you the latest roundup of Orange County news and events.
Orange County had a few ties to the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, which shook the country and further revealed the deep ideological divides in the nation and this county.
One of those Orange County connections was former Chapman University professor John Eastman, who spoke at the pro-Trump rally that preceded the violent Capitol riot. At the rally, he made the unsubstantiated claim that “secret folders” inside ballot-counting machines tipped the presidential and Georgia Senate race results in Democrats’ favor. Baseless claims of election fraud fueled the violent rioters.
Eastman, who also advised former President Trump on efforts to overturn the results of the election, was forced to retire from the school about a week after the incident due to the uproar. Since then, Eastman has emerged as a central player in the investigation into the mob attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Eastman has been trying to prevent a congressional committee that’s investigating the Capitol riot from seeing more than 100 emails that he was involved in. Reporter Melanie Mason wrote this week that a judge decided that the court would review the emails and choose which ones the committee could see.
The congressional committee subpoenaed emails that Eastman sent or received from Jan. 4 to Jan. 7, 2021, which are on the Chapman University servers. But Eastman argued that they should not be viewed by the committee because of attorney-client privilege, Mason wrote.
U.S. District Judge David O. Carter didn’t buy that argument.
“After reading the emails, the Court will determine for each document whether any privilege existed, whether that privilege was waived, and whether any exceptions apply,” Carter wrote. “Ultimately, the Court will issue a written decision including its full analysis and its final determination of which, if any, documents must be disclosed to the Select Committee.”
The committee has alleged that the emails could be important to determine whether Trump broke laws in trying to block Biden’s win. Charles Burnham, Eastman’s attorney, downplayed the claims that the emails contain such overt illegality.
“There’s not going to be an email where anyone involved in the campaign effort says, ‘We’ve got to have some ruffians rush the Capitol if the vice president doesn’t make the decision we want.’ It’s not going to be there,” Burnham said. “There’s not going to be an email that says, ‘We all know the election had no fraud or illegality, but we’ve got to come up with something.’”
MORE NEWS
Last week, I wrote about my colleague Gabriel San Román’s story about local business owners being financially impacted by the construction of the O.C. Streetcar. The drama continued this week as the contractor of the planned trolley system sued the Orange County Transportation Authority for $50 million. The company claims that the transit agency should be paying them more for the work. The lawsuit could be bad news for the local businesses because it could stall construction. “It would kill a lot of the businesses,” said Eric Hansen, who manages one of the affected businesses. “It would kill downtown, if they shut down completely and didn’t finish the job.”
It appears that a once-controversial Orange County veterans cemetery is moving forward in Anaheim Hills after county officials this week backed a plan to dedicate part of the land to firefighters and police officers. For a decade, veterans fought to get the cemetery in Irvine, but the proposal was bogged down in local politics. Now with the backing of every city in the county, plans for the cemetery are being developed. The Orange County Cemetery District will decide if a parcel of land will be set aside for first responders.
Priscilla Perez has been periodically living in hotels since 2016 after her father committed suicide, leaving her mother to take care of the family. The 22-year-old, now a mother of her own, began working at a carwash in Anaheim. That carwash company is now working with a nonprofit to secure housing for Perez.
More information about the death of a Huntington Beach police officer in a helicopter crash was released this week in a report from the National Transportation Safety Board. The report described that in the final moments before the crash, the helicopter pilot fought to keep it in the air before it crashed into the ocean last month. One of the major points highlighted in the report was that the pilot chose not to use a special emergency maneuver that would have required reducing or shutting off the engine power because he was over a populated area.
School officials will consider relocating the construction of a $41.2-million performing arts complex to save some rare open space at Estancia High School. The project had been criticized and targeted with a lawsuit for its plans to tear out a nearly 1-acre green space on the school’s campus. The Newport-Mesa Unified School District’s project has been mired in local controversy and has climbed in costs by more than $9 million from its original budget estimate.
Pacifica Christian High School will be able to stay in its current location after Newport Beach officials this week extended the city’s agreement with the school. The school will be able to continue operating for free for another 10 years at least on the 12,700-square-foot city parcel. My colleague Lilly Nguyen has the story.
LIFE AND LEISURE
During the pandemic, many of us have survived on takeout. But the return of Orange County Restaurant Week encourages folks to come try some of the county’s best culinary dishes through tomorrow. My colleague Sarah Mosqueda wrote that the event has something for everyone.
For 70 years, the Santa Ana Zoo has entertained and educated local families about wildlife and conservation. To celebrate its anniversary this week, zoo manager Ethan Fisher spoke with me about how the zoo has changed over the years. “Really, it was just a few cages with some monkeys in it,” he described the zoo when it opened in 1952. He also spoke about $2 million in state funding that the zoo recently secured to build an educational building to increase outreach to underserved youth in the community.
Huntington Beach author Namrata Poddar this week discussed her debut novel “Border Less,” which is made up of multiple stories about different characters who do not draw their identities from a specific country. Orange County is present in the book as one of the characters works at a motel near Knott’s Berry Farm and another tastes the culinary diversity of downtown Huntington Beach.
SPORTS
Michael Stefanic has gone from being a nondrafted free agent in 2018 to being on the cusp of making the Angels roster. Stefanic has continued to work hard despite not receiving any signing money and meager paychecks. That effort translated into a selection to the triple-A all-star game last summer, which could help propel him to the big leagues. Reporter Mike Digiovanna wrote that Stefanic gained 20 pounds of muscle and has shored up his weaknesses, which included limited range, quickness and arm strength.
The Orange County Soccer Club made waves in the United Soccer League last year when it claimed a championship title. The veteran who led the team, Michael Orozco, will return this season to help defend the title. Although he’s 36 years old, retirement is the furthest thing from his mind, wrote my colleague Matt Szabo. “People ask me, ‘How long do you want to play?’ If I’m enjoying it, until I’m 40 or 42, I’m still going to do it,” he said during a media event this week.
Here’s a roundup of high school sports scores from around Orange County, including Estancia baseball remaining unbeaten in nonleague play. Also, Costa Mesa boys’ golf trounced Orange at a match at the Costa Mesa Country Club in an Orange Coast League contest.
Stay in Touch
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