After weeks of television appearances on behalf of outgoing President Donald Trump, Sidney Powell became a household name last week after the far-right lawyer appeared with colleagues Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis in a bizarre news conference where the trio doubled down on the lie that widespread voter fraud tipped the 2020 election to President-elect Joe Biden.
Powell lied that long-dead Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez oversaw the building of voting software systems Dominion and Smartmatic to ensure that he never lost an election.
That same technology, Powell falsely claimed, switched millions of Trump votes to Biden votes, which representatives for Dominion say is "physically impossible." She went on to say that Trump won by such a landslide, he broke the algorithm of the machines and that's the reason counting stopped in some states on Election Night.
Even far-right Fox News host Tucker Carlson skewered Powell for refusing to provide any evidence corroborating this to any media outlet, including Fox.
By Sunday, the Trump campaign was already distancing itself from Powell, with Trump legal advisor Jenna Ellis tweeting a statement regarding Powell's involvement with the campaign.
pic.twitter.com/3QDNLjBrmf
— Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) November 22, 2020
The statement, attributed to Ellis and Giuliani, read:
"Sidney Powell is practicing law on her own. She is not a member of the Trump Legal Team. She is also not a lawyer for the President in his personal capacity."
The news came as a surprise, considering Powell had appeared with Trump's legal team multiple times—including at last week's two hour press conference—and the President named her as part of his team on Twitter.
Powell assured in a statement of her own that nothing was afoot.
"I agree with the statement today. I will represent #WeThePeople and seek the Truth. I intend to expose all the fraud and let the chips fall where they may. We will not allow the foundations of this great Republic to be destroyed by abject fraud or our votes for President Trump and other Republicans to be stolen by foreign interests or anyone else."
People saw the Trump campaign's efforts to distance itself as yet another example of the team's ineptitude.
It's OK to laugh at this hilarious clown car and yet appreciate that what's going here is deadly serious. These tactics will go nowhere but still infect our democracy with doubt. Meanwhile, the transition delays risk grave harm to public health & economic and national security. https://t.co/ZECbTIKIao
— Deepak Gupta (@deepakguptalaw) November 22, 2020
Hugo Chavez demanded she be fired, didn't he. https://t.co/QdYJYKm5Ku
— S.V. Dáte (@svdate) November 22, 2020
When you are too crazy and dumb for some of the dumbest and crazy people https://t.co/7wltkncjbR
— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) November 22, 2020
Even in fiction, it is harder to script a more inane set of legal claims, legal strategy, and legal personnel. This is what you get when you try to mess with democracy. https://t.co/1C0AUtxZ6y
— Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) November 22, 2020
We deserve to watch this meltdown https://t.co/yMEQK24lTb
— Mike Madrid (@madrid_mike) November 23, 2020
Literally two days ago you praised Sidney Powell for "releasing the kraken." https://t.co/x76ZOlCcR5
— Matthew Chapman (@fawfulfan) November 22, 2020
People still had questions.
.@JennaEllisEsq he will turn on you as well. But as long as the grift keeps giving, you just keep taking I guess. Have you ever discussed your past posts with Trump where you mock and ridicule him? https://t.co/i9siFKBtnm https://t.co/pOQhZOFrfR
— Wajahat "Wears a Mask Because of a Pandemic" Ali (@WajahatAli) November 22, 2020
Can you just leave the country in shame like anybody else would? https://t.co/crbBaRgIFJ
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) November 22, 2020
Did Sidney Powell even last a Scaramucci? https://t.co/HE14bopxp1
— Scott Shapiro (@scottjshapiro) November 22, 2020
The President's legal team has lost in court over 30 times in its anti-democratic efforts. The team has won only twice.
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AMC