President Trump appointed Sidney Powell, the lawyer her legal team disallowed after she promoted conspiracy theories about the election, as a special attorney to investigate election fraud, according to two Mr. Trump advisers. His name was suggested during a meeting at the White House.
The New York Times first reported the news of Powell’s possible appointment.
A senior campaign official told CBS News that he personally likes Powell’s “hard nationalism,” but said it’s a minority opinion within the campaign. The person added that the “types of establishment” within the campaign are increasingly suspicious of Powell’s influence on the president and his agenda.
An adviser to Mr. Trump called Powell a “disastrous mistake.”
Trump tweeted on Nov. 14 that Powell was part of his “real big team” that presented legal challenges to challenge election results. Trump’s campaign lawyer Rudy Giuliani also identified her as a member of the legal team and appeared with him at a press conference to discuss the unfounded claims of the widespread election fraud campaign.
The Washington Post
Powell promoted several unfounded conspiracy theories about the election, including the fact that the late Hugo Chávez, among others, had manipulated the election against Mr. Trump by programming voting machines to change the president’s votes to President-elect Joe Biden. Powell’s claims were considered even outlandish even by typical allies of the president. Fox News host Tucker Carlson said he refused to provide him with any evidence of his claims about the vote change.
“When we kept pushing, she got angry and told us to stop contacting her,” Carlson said. “When we checked in with other people in the Trump campaign, people in positions of authority, we were also told that Powell had never given them any evidence to prove anything he claimed at the press conference.”
Trump’s legal team on Saturday sent a note to dozens of officials instructing them to preserve all documents related to Dominion Voting Systems, a voting software company used in 28 states specifically mentioned by Powell and Trump on numerous occasions. and Powell in anticipation of the company’s potential bond against the pro-Trump lawyer.
On Nov. 23, Trump’s top legal adviser, Jenna Ellis, said Powell was not a member of Trump’s legal team, despite previous claims.
Powell issued a press release following Ellis’ announcement that he “understands” the press release, but “would continue to represent #WeThePeople who stole his votes for Trump and other Republicans for mass fraud through Dominion.” and Smartmatic, and we will present dress soon “. He added the tag “#KrakenOnSteriods”.
Since then, Powell has filed lawsuits against several states challenging the election results. On December 8, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit Powell filed in Georgia alleging widespread election fraud and absenteeism-related voting errors. Wisconsin and Arizona judges dismissed similar lawsuits filed by Powell a day later.
“Not only have the plaintiffs not provided the Court with factual support for their extraordinary claims, but they have not been able to establish that they are in a position for the Court to consider them. The allegations they consider favorable in the public sphere of gossip and innuendo are not they can be a substitute for the serious statements and the procedure in federal court, ”U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa wrote in her ruling. “They certainly can’t be the basis for raising Arizona’s 2020 general election.”
Powell and several associates have appealed their dismissed cases to the Supreme Court. They have also tried to consolidate their challenges to election results in Wisconsin, Georgia, Michigan and Arizona in a single lawsuit, although they did not properly file for Wisconsin and Arizona appeals and therefore did not get to court.
The Supreme Court previously declined to hear a case challenging the results of the Texas state election.
Caroline Linton and Kathryn Watson contributed to the communication.