Chapman University in Orange, California, announced on Wednesday that a controversial law professor who was a featured speaker at last week’s pro-Trump “Save America” rally would retire after several of his colleagues demanded his termination.
The Los Angeles Times reports, Chapman President Daniele Struppa issued a statement indicating the university had reached an agreement with Dr. John C. Eastman, who the outlet described as “an endowed professor and constitutional law scholar.” Eastman was on stage with Rudy Giuliani when the president’s personal attorney told the crowd, “Let’s have trial by combat.” The event ended with some attendees storming the U.S. Capitol, disrupting the election certification process.
“Dr. Eastman’s departure closes this challenging chapter for Chapman and provides the most immediate and certain path forward for both the Chapman community and Dr. Eastman,” Struppa said.
According to The Times report, Eastman would “retire immediately,” and “both parties agreed not to take any kind of legal action, including over claims of defamation, which Eastman had alleged.”
More than 150 faculty members had co-signed a letter calling on Chapman administrators to dismiss Eastman, saying he had “incited violence” during his fiery speech with “conspiratorial claims of a stolen election” that “were the basis of the insurrection.”
Struppa previously condemned Eastman’s “actions” but said the private school did not have the authority to terminate his employment unless he had been disbarred or found guilty of a felony.
In an emailed statement to The Times, Dr. Eastman said the letter demanding his dismissal “created such a hostile environment for me that I no longer wish to be a member of the Chapman faculty.”
“This charge is really an attempt to shut down the exercise of First Amendment rights,” Eastman wrote.
Eastman told The Times that the letter was “defamatory,” maintained his accusations of massive fraud were truthful and said he played no part in instigating a riot.
As The Daily Wire previously reported, Eastman had alleged at the Jan. 6 rally that some voting machines contained secret folders where uncounted ballots were stored, “sitting there waiting until they know how many they need.”
According to Eastman, the machines in question have the ability to “match those uncounted ballots with an unvoted voter” after the polls close. He said the process created bogus ballots counted in the presidential election on Nov. 3 and the Georgia Senate runoffs on Jan. 5.
“All we are demanding of Vice President (Mike) Pence is, this afternoon at one o’clock, he let the legislatures of the state look into this, so we get to the bottom of it, and the American people know whether we have control of the direction of our government, or not?”
“We no longer live in a self-governing Republic if we can’t get the answer to this question,” Eastman said. “This is bigger than President Trump. It is the very essence of our Republican form of government, and it has to be done. And anybody who is not willing to stand up to do it does not deserve to be in the office. It is that simple.”
President Donald J. Trump went on to tell several thousand supporters in attendance that “John is one of the most brilliant lawyers in the country.”
According to The Times, “Eastman said he would finish out his term as a visiting professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, then turn his focus to the Claremont Institute’s Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, which he directs.”