In 2020, when he was a visiting scholar at the University of Colorado’s Benson Center for Western Conservative Thought, John Eastman speculated in a Newsweek op-ed that Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris might not be eligible to serve as vice president because her parents were possibly temporary visitors at the time of Harris’ birth.
Eastman later faced a national outcry denouncing him as a “birther,” in the mold of Trump himself who long promoted the falsehood that former president Barack Obama was ineligible to be president.
Eastman refused to back down, stating in an email to the Colorado Times Recorder in 2020 that “if her parents had achieved citizenship status or lawful permanent resident status before her birth, then she would be eligible, but if her parents were only temporary visitors, then not.”
Despite Harris’ presidential campaign still less 24 hours old, conservative pundits are already recycling the debunked attack Eastman made while teaching at CU Boulder.
The allegation that Harris could be ineligible has been documented as false. Harris was born in Oakland, CA, to Jamaican and Indian immigrants.
An email to Eastman seeking to know if he still believes Harris may not qualify to serve as president was not immediatly returned.
Easteman gained wide attention as the Trump lawyer who pushed the plan for Congress not to certify the 2020 presidential election. He’s just one of a string of conservatives who’ve pushed birtherism over the years in Colorado, most notably KNUS radio host Peter Boyles who was a national leader of the birther movement focussing on Obama.
Judges have suspended Eastman’s licenses to practice law in both California and the District of Columbia.
