Alaska lawmaker takes stand in case over Oath Keepers ties

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska lawmaker took the stand Wednesday in a case alleging his ties to the far-right group Oath Keepers disqualifies him from holding workplace.

Republican Rep. David Eastman stated he believed he remained a member of the group, saying he had not heard something from the Oath Keepers about his membership in a while. Eastman was requested if he had made any public statements that he was resigning or renouncing his membership, to which he replied: “I’ve not made such a press release.”

Eastman was questioned by lawyer Goriune Dudukgian, who’s representing Randall Kowalke. Kowalke was among the many people who earlier this yr filed challenges to Eastman’s candidacy for the state Home with the Alaska Division of Elections. The division decided that Eastman was eligible to run for reelection, however Kowalke’s attorneys have argued the division failed to analyze Eastman’s eligibility underneath the so-called disloyalty clause of the state structure.

The lawsuit factors to a provision of the structure that states that nobody who “advocates, or who aids or belongs to any get together or group or affiliation which advocates, the overthrow by drive or violence of the federal government of the USA or of the State shall be certified to carry” public workplace.

Nationally, a founding father of the Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes, and a Florida chapter chief have been convicted of seditious conspiracy associated to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on the U.S. Capitol. A trial towards 4 different Oath Keepers is underway.

Eastman has stated he was in Washington, D.C., that day for a speech by then-President Donald Trump however didn’t participate within the riot. Eastman has not been accused of any crimes.

A submit by Eastman on his web site in September stated that Oath Keepers “has by no means inspired me to have interaction in violence. What they’ve requested is that everybody who has taken an oath to the Structure consciously reside as much as that promise. I do. Some need to see that as proof of my disloyalty to the Structure.”

A bench trial within the case started this week. Eastman gained reelection final month however the decide overseeing the case, Superior Courtroom Decide Jack McKenna, beforehand ordered that certification of the race be delayed pending trial and additional order from the courtroom.