Positions held related to the administration:
- Attorney, creator of the “Legal Defense Fund for the American Republic”
- Attorney to Michael Flynn
- Former member of the Trump legal team contesting the results of the 2020 election
Main Offenses
The Election:
Sidney Powell is a conspiracy theorist and attorney who sought to overturn the 2020 election results, claiming communists interfered with the election and somehow tying in Hugo Chavez, George Soros, and the Clinton Foundation. In addition to litigating election results, she called on state legislatures to simply ignore them and send slates of electors loyal to Trump.
Though released from the Trump legal team because she “was too crazy even for the president,” Powell continued to try to overturn the 2020 presidential election, filing a series of lawsuits she dubbed the “kraken.” These baseless lawsuits, which were dismissed by judge across the country, echoed conspiracy theories Powell and others had peddled and led to accusations that Powell or a member of her team had written or edited the affidavits of supposed witnesses. Dominion Voting Systems, which Powell claimed was established with communist money and part of a vast vote manipulation scheme, went on to file a defamation lawsuit against Powell for $1.3 billion.
Yet even after all this, Trump reportedly wished to make Powell a special counsel and get her a security clearance.
Powell’s Representation of Flynn
Powell’s defense of Flynn went with the conspiracy theory that Flynn was “deliberately targeted for destruction” by the Intelligence Community and that Mueller is a “creep.” This idea appears to be part of a larger theory that the government includes “disloyal” members of the “deep state” working against Trump. Unsurprisingly, this was rejected by the Judge.
Q and Friends
Powell has been affiliated with a bevy of conspiracy theorists, including the “Q” movement. For example, in 2018 Powell was a speaker at “Operation Classified,” (a conspiracy theory conference) along with militia leaders, anti-vaxxers, and a UFO activist. She gave a talk titled “Creeps on a Mission to Destroy the President,” a conspiracy the Mueller was part of a deep state plot to overthrow Trump.
In 2020, she shared the state at a “Stop the Steal” rally with Lin Wood, who has at one point had the abbreviated QAnon slogan as his Twitter bio. One of her many failed election lawsuits also cited an affidavit from a central QAnon figure.
Powell has also tweeted with the hashtags #TheStorm and #TheStormisComing, a reference to the QAnon belief in a “Storm” wherein Trump’s foes will be executed en masse. Powell has been described as a “heroic figure to the QAnon crowd,” and had her Twitter account suspended as part of an early 2021 purge of QAnon related accounts.
Trump Tweets
Donald J. Trump @realdonaldtrump
General Michael Flynn, the 33 year war hero who has served with distinction, has not retained a good lawyer, he has retained a GREAT LAWYER, Sidney Powell. Best Wishes and Good Luck to them both!
Jun 13th 2019 – 6:21:50 AM EST
Donald J. Trump @realdonaldtrump
I look forward to Mayor Giuliani spearheading the legal effort to defend OUR RIGHT to FREE and FAIR ELECTIONS! Rudy Giuliani, Joseph diGenova, Victoria Toensing, Sidney Powell, and Jenna Ellis, a truly great team, added to our other wonderful lawyers and representatives!
Nov 14th 2020 – 10:11:52 PM EST
Donald J. Trump @realdonaldtrump
RT @DavidJHarrisJr: Sidney Powell and Lin Wood hit Georgia with 104-page lawsuit. https://t.co/cDsbK1s2MG
Nov 26th 2020 – 3:39:45 PM EST
