Eastman Memo: The Written Plan to Overturn the Election

What the Eastman Memo Said

The Eastman Memo argued that then–Vice President Mike Pence could refuse to count electoral votes from several Biden-won states and either throw the election to Trump or delay the process long enough to send the dispute back to state legislatures.

That was the core fantasy: one official, standing at the center of certification, could suddenly become the final judge of which votes counted and which votes did not.

A version of the memo published by CNN shows the claim plainly, and NPR also published the memo as the blueprint Trump allies used to pressure Pence before January 6.

Why the Eastman Memo Was Unconstitutional

The vice president’s role in the Electoral Count process is ceremonial, not unilateral. Pence opens the certificates. He does not get to choose which certified state votes count.

The Constitution does not grant the vice president a personal veto over presidential elections. The Eastman Memo tried to invent that power after the result was already known.

That is why the memo matters so much. It was not trying to clarify a settled rule. It was trying to create a loophole big enough to drive a losing candidate back into office.

How the Eastman Memo Connected to Fake Electors

The Eastman Memo only makes full sense when you place it next to the fake electors scheme.

If alternate slates of electors could be waved around as if they were real, then the memo gave Pence a theory for pretending he had a dispute to resolve. Without fake electors, the memo looks absurd. With fake electors, it becomes operational.

That is why the fake electors effort and the eastman memo were parts of the same machine. When the voters and the courts would not produce a different outcome, the paperwork had to.

How the Eastman Memo Pressured Pence

Trump and Eastman did not keep the memo in a drawer as some private legal thought experiment. They used it to pressure Pence publicly and privately.

Pence’s legal team rejected the theory. His advisers rejected the theory. The Justice Department did not endorse the theory. But the pressure kept building anyway because the point was never neutral legal analysis. The point was leverage.

Once Pence refused, the pressure campaign did not cool down. It got more dangerous.

What the Eastman Memo Trail Revealed Later

One of the most damaging parts of the story is that later evidence undercut any claim that this was a good-faith constitutional disagreement.

Reporting and testimony showed that Eastman privately acknowledged the theory was extremely weak and likely to fail at the Supreme Court. That matters because it suggests the plan was pushed even while key people understood how legally indefensible it was.

The memo was not just aggressive. It was reckless in a way that made the country pay the price.

7 Shocking Reasons the Eastman Memo Mattered

1. It put the coup theory in writing

This was not vague rhetoric. The plan was written down step by step.

2. It tried to turn Pence into a one-man election override

The memo depended on inventing vice-presidential power that did not exist.

3. It worked with the fake electors scheme

The paperwork strategy and the Pence strategy were designed to support each other.

4. It gave Stop the Steal a legal costume

The memo made an anti-democratic power grab look like a constitutional argument.

5. It helped turn January 6 into a pressure point

The whole theory relied on disrupting certification at the exact moment Congress met.

6. Its weakness was known

Later reporting and testimony showed the theory was not treated as strong by the people closest to it.

7. It proved the effort was organized

The memo is written proof that the election-overturn plan was structured, intentional, and aimed at keeping a losing candidate in office.

Why the Eastman Memo Was More Than Bad Scholarship

The easiest way to misunderstand this document is to treat it like a fringe academic memo that never mattered in the real world.

But the eastman memo was not just bad scholarship. It was part of a live strategy. It was used to pressure Pence. It fit with fake electors. It fed the false hope that certification could still be stopped even after the voters had already spoken.

That is what makes it historically important. It was not commentary. It was a working plan.

How to Respond When Someone Downplays the Eastman Memo

You do not need to argue every clause. Ask a few simple questions.

• Was the plan written down?
• Did it claim Pence could reject electoral votes?
• Did Pence’s own legal team reject it?
• Did fake electors and January 6 pressure fit around the same strategy?

If the answer is yes, then this was not harmless theorizing. It was a blueprint for subverting certification.

Why Evidence Matters Covers the Eastman Memo

Because some moments are too important to leave at the level of vibe or summary.

Eastman Memo is one of those moments. It is written evidence that the plan to overturn the 2020 election was not imaginary, improvised, or misunderstood. It was drafted, circulated, and pushed as a real option.

For related reading, start with Pence Card, Election Subversion, and How We Verify.

Helpful Sources to Check First

Before repeating claims that the Eastman Memo was harmless or misunderstood, start with the memo itself, the January 6 report, and reporting on the Pence pressure campaign.

Useful places to begin include NPR’s Eastman Memo page, the memo PDF, the January 6 report chapter on Pence, and the DOJ indictment in United States v. Trump.