Trump's Changing Relationship with Sidney Powell Amidst Legal Troubles
Trump's Changing Relationship with Sidney Powell Amidst Legal Troubles
Trump
In a surprising turn of events, former President Donald Trump disavowed any association with Sidney Powell, a prominent figure in his legal team during the aftermath of the 2020 Presidential Election. Despite the president's claims, Powell had indeed been a part of Trump's legal team for a brief period, and their past ties paint a more complicated picture.
Powell's recent guilty plea in a Georgia election subversion case has brought their tumultuous connection into the spotlight. As a result, Trump, who had originally praised Powell's contributions, now asserts that she was "never" his attorney.
"Sidney Powell was one of millions and millions of people who thought, and in ever increasing numbers still think, correctly, that the 2020 Presidential Election was RIGGED & STOLLEN, AND OUR COUNTRY IS BEING ABSOLUTELY DESTROYED BECAUSE OF IT!!! MS. POWELL WAS NOT MY ATTORNEY, AND NEVER WAS. In fact, she would have been conflicted," Trump declared on his Truth Social platform.
Trump's attempt to distance himself from Powell appears to be a reaction to her decision to cooperate with Fulton County prosecutors and testify against her co-defendants in the case, a group that may include Trump himself.
The relationship between Trump and Powell began with a public announcement on November 15, 2020, when Trump "added" her to his legal team working on election-related matters. Her most notable moment came during a controversial Trump campaign press conference, where she joined Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis in promoting unfounded conspiracy theories about an alleged international vote-rigging plot aimed at switching millions of votes from Trump to Joe Biden.
However, this alliance didn't last long, as the Trump campaign eventually distanced itself from Powell, emphasizing that she was "practicing law on her own."
Undeterred, Powell continued her legal crusade, filing numerous lawsuits across the country in a bid to overturn the election results. One federal judge later condemned her actions as "a historic and profound abuse of the judicial process."
Their connection remained undeniable, with Powell meeting Trump on several occasions, including a December 2020 White House meeting where he considered appointing her as a special counsel to investigate voter fraud. This meeting famously featured discussions of declaring martial law and using the military to seize voting machines.
As Powell's trial in Georgia approached, she began distancing herself from Trump. Her legal team contended that she "did not represent President Trump or the Trump campaign" because she had never signed an "engagement agreement" with them. They also pointed out that her name did not appear on any court filings from the Trump campaign.
Nevertheless, Powell's legal troubles caught up with her as she admitted her role in the January 2021 breach of election systems in rural Coffee County, Georgia. With the assistance of local GOP officials, a group of Trump supporters infiltrated and extracted data from the county's election systems, all in the hope of providing evidence of election fraud. These actions took place after Trump declined to sign an executive order instructing the Pentagon to seize voting machines.
The complex relationship between Trump and Sidney Powell, once allies in a mission to challenge the 2020 election results, has now become a source of tension as both grapple with the legal repercussions of their actions.
