Trump legal team disavows association with lawyer Sidney Powell
The Trump campaign is disavowing its association with attorney Sidney Powell after the far-fetched Trump campaign Thursday press conference when she claimed without evidence that the deceased Hugo Chávez, among others, was responsible for rigging the election. The campaign claimed that she "is not a member of the Trump legal team," even though the president and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani had previously identified her as being on the team.
In the days since the press conference, Powell has made additional unfounded claims to conservative networks, and her claims have even been questioned by Fox News' Tucker Carlson, after she refused to produce her evidence on the show.
"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," said a statement from Giuliani and Trump campaign senior legal adviser Jenna Ellis.
During Thursday's press conference, Giuliani identified Powell as a member of the team defending Mr. Trump, and the president himself identified Powell as someone working for him in a November 14 tweet.
"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!" Mr. Trump tweeted at the time.
Powell issued this statement to CBS News:
"I understand today's press release," she said. "I will continue to represent #WeThePeople who had their votes for Trump and other Republicans stolen by massive fraud through Dominion and Smartmatic, and we will be filing suit soon. The chips will fall where they may, and we will defend the foundations of this great Republic. #KrakenOnSteroids"
On Thursday, Ellis called the team giving the press conference, which included Powell, the "elite, strike force team." Powell, Giuliani and Ellis have claimed they're holding back their biggest evidence for court, where they continue to lose lawsuit cases.
Powell was the attorney for General Michal Flynn, the president's former national security adviser who was fired for lying to Vice President Mike Pence about his Russian contacts, and convicted of lying to the FBI about the same thing.
— Kristen Brown contributed to this report