President Trump vowed to appoint Sidney Powell, the attorney who disavowed his legal team after promoting election conspiracy theories, as special counsel to investigate voter fraud, two advisers to Mr. Trump said. Her name was presented at a meeting at the White House.
The news of Powell’s possible appointment was first reported by The New York Times.
A senior campaign official told CBS News that they personally love Powell’s “hardcore nationalism,” but said this is a minority viewpoint within the campaign. The person added that “establishment types” within the campaign are increasingly wary of Powell’s influence on the president and his agenda.
An adviser to Mr. Trump called Powell “a catastrophic mistake.”
Mr Trump tweeted on November 14 that Powell was part of his “really great team” taking legal challenges to challenge the election results. Trump campaign attorney Rudy Giuliani also identified her as a member of the legal team, and she appeared with him at a press conference to discuss the campaign’s baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud.
The Washington Post
Powell promoted a number of baseless conspiracy theories about the election, including that the late Hugo Chávez faked the election against Mr. Trump by programming voting machines to switch the votes for President to President-elect Joe Biden. Powell’s claims were considered far-fetched even by typical allies of the president. Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson said she declined to provide him with any evidence of her allegations of vote-swapping.
“When we kept pushing, she got angry and told us not to contact her,” said Carlson. “When we checked with others around the Trump campaign, people in positions of authority, they also told us that Powell never gave them any evidence to prove anything she claimed at the press conference.”
Mr. Trump’s legal team sent a memo to dozens of staff members on Saturday instructing them to preserve all documents related to Dominion Voting Systems – a voting software company used in 28 states specifically mentioned by Powell and Mr. Trump on several occasions – and Powell pending possible company breakdown against pro-Trump attorney.
On Nov. 23, Jenna Ellis, Trump’s senior legal counsel, said Powell was not a member of Trump’s legal team, despite the earlier claims.
Powell issued a press release after Ellis announced that she ‘understands’ the press release, but that she would continue to represent’ #WeThePeople who stole their votes on Trump and other Republicans through massive fraud by Dominion and Smartmatic, and we will be filing pack soon. She added the hashtag “#KrakenOnSteriods.”
Powell has since filed lawsuits against the election results in several states. A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by Powell in Georgia on Dec. 8 for widespread voter fraud and errors related to absenteeism. Judges in Wisconsin and Arizona dismissed similar lawsuits brought by Powell a day later.
Not only have plaintiffs failed to provide the Court with factual support for their extraordinary claims, but they have failed to demonstrate at all that they have the standing that the Court will consider them. Allegations favorable in the public sphere of gossip and innuendo cannot be a substitute for serious pleadings and proceedings in federal court, ”US District Judge Diane Humetewa wrote in her decision. “They certainly cannot be the basis for toppling the 2020 general election in Arizona.”
Powell and several associates have appealed their dismissed cases to the Supreme Court. They also tried to bring their challenges related to the election results in Wisconsin, Georgia, Michigan and Arizona together in one lawsuit, although they failed to properly file the paperwork for the Wisconsin and Arizona appeals, and therefore they failed got by the court.
The Supreme Court previously declined to hear a case contesting the results of the elections filed by the state of Texas.
Caroline Linton and Kathryn Watson contributed to the reporting.