Sidney Powell is a former Trump campaign lawyer and she’s fighting Michigan sanctions against her. She claims in her appeal that the federal Judge who approved them makes her look like an “overwrought, dangerous lunatic”. You don’t need to be crazy to see the strange news conference Powell held with other campaign members a few weeks after Donald Trump won the election.
Powell was seen as an insane because she believed the lies she was telling. She claimed that Democrats in the United States had used election-facilitating software and fake ballots to steal Joe Biden’s election. This elaborate scheme involved George Soros and Dominion Voting Systems and Hugo Chavez (deceased Venezuelan leader), George Soros and Dominion Voting Systems. Also, Powell referenced “the enormous influence of communist cash through Venezuela, Cuba and possibly China.” It is a little surprising to see these words in the U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit brief Powell filed this week. Maybe they are.”
Kleinhendler, Powell, and their federal lawsuit in Michigan filed November 25, 2020 to challenge the results of the Michigan presidential election. This suit sought to invalidate the outcome and include all basic elements she had publicly promoted for many weeks. Now Powell—who appropriately likened the evidence supporting her conspiracy theory to a mythical beast, saying, “I’m going to release the Kraken”—is conceding that the creature might not exist after all.
Powell did not change her tall tale repeatedly after the election. Dominion sued Powell and several other promoters of the story last year for defamation. They sought $1.3 billion in punitive and compensatory damages. She argued her claims against Dominion were unenforceable because no reasonable person could conclude the statements were true statements of facts.
Powell stated that Dominion’s complaint was proof of her point. In her March 22 brief, Powell noted that plaintiffs describe the statements in question as “wild allegations” and “outlandish claims.” She requested dismissal from the lawsuit against Dominion. They are frequently called ‘inherently impossible’ or ‘impossible’. These defamatory statements are further characterized by defendants as if reasonable people would reject such statements as truth, but only view them as claims that need to be tested through the adversary process. This implied that “millions” of Americans who purchased this story weren’t “reasonable people.” While fair, it is not exactly what the Kraken Keeper would say.
Powell reversed course two months later. Powell said, “I don’t think.” [Dominion] realized that some of us litigators were going to catch on and hold their feet to the fire and expose what really happened,” she said during the “For God & Country: Patriot Roundup” gathering in Dallas on Memorial Day weekend. Dominion will be disqualified from the lawsuit, as “we mean what we say” and because we have evidence. She added that, if Dominion’s lawsuit continues, then she would get discovery against Dominion and be on offense.
Powell has now reversed her decision to backtrack from her earlier backtracking. She claims that her preposterous statements may have been false, but that the public accepted them supports her claim that she shouldn’t be punished in federal court.
When U.S. District Judge Linda Parker rejected Powell’s Michigan lawsuit on December 7, 2020, she said it was based on “nothing but speculation and conjecture.” Parker also ordered Powell and the eight other defendants to reimburse the legal fees and completed 12 hours of remedial education. The matter was also referred to Parker for further investigation, possible suspension or expulsion by the appropriate disciplinary authority in each jurisdiction where the nine attorneys are practicing law.
Parker stated that it was one thing to be charged with vindicating rights in connection with an allegedly fraudulent electoral process. Parker wrote that it was another thing to be accused of deceiving the federal court and the American public into believing rights had been infringed. It was exactly what happened.
The 6th Circuit is asked to reverse Parker’s decision, as Powell claims that Parker misapplied legal standards regarding sanctions. She portrays herself as an honest lawyer, who accomplished her task as efficiently as possible in the shortest time. In this telling, Powell was merely representing clients—Republican electors and party officials—with credible concerns about the way the presidential election was conducted in Michigan.
Powell claims that if it turns out her clients’ claims are not true, Powell does not blame her. She should not be held responsible for her clients’ false claims, misunderstandings, statements made in a wild manner, or inexcusable insinuations and errors in the affidavits that she filed to support them. Many of these affidavits were lifted from similar unsuccessful lawsuits.
This is a bold attempt to avoid responsibility given Powell’s prominent role in promoting and concocting the story about a stolen election. Powell told the same story every opportunity she had and is pretending to be an innocent observer. Parker says that she treats every appellant the same regardless of their involvement. “No thought is given to the roles played by Appellants’ clients or any affiants that may have lied.”
Powell also seeks to put the blame on Lin Wood who was an ally in signing onto the Michigan lawsuit. Parker held a hearing in July where Wood stated that he was unaware his name was listed on the briefs of the suit until he had read an article about the motion seeking sanctions.
Wood admitted that her name wasn’t included at the time. “But I told Powell during discussions that I would support her in any case she might need me. But in this instance, it seems that I wasn’t required, so that was why I couldn’t do anything with it.” Powell countered Wood by saying Powell would not have used Wood’s name without consulting him. Parker said that Wood “is not credible”, and added that “the Court doesn’t believe Wood was aware of being named as counsel in this particular case.” Wood was publicly known to have spoken out about his involvement in the Michigan case.
Powell noted in her 6th Circuit brief that Parker had “exonerated page after page”. [Wood]Calling [him] a liar”—”and, at least on the District Court’s account of his extrajudicial statements, an unrepentant one.” Wood’s statement that he did nothing to help the lawsuit is more sinister than Kleinhendler, two other lawyers who were “merely listed as “Of Counsel” on the complaint, and another attorney “who was not listed as such”
This effort to put Wood under the bus speaks more about Powell and Powell’s fallout than it does about Powell and her responsibility for the “historical and grave abuse of the judicial system”. Whatever Powell’s legal argument regarding sanctions, it seems clear that she can no longer be trusted to believe her own lies. Although her Kraken is suffering a painful, slow death, Powell refuses to let it go or acknowledge it as hers.