Sidney Powell
So-called “Kraken” lawyer Sidney Powell, whose failed litigation to overturn the Joe Biden’s victory left her sanctioned by a federal judge and fighting ethics complaints, told the Jan. 6 Committee that former President Donald Trump asked her to be special counsel to investigate the 2020 election.
That Trump sought to install Powell in that role had been widely reported since December 2020, just months after the election. Some seven months later, Powell’s schemes to overturn Joe Biden’s victory would lead to her fighting to keep her law license after a federal judge sanctioned her for her “historic and profound abuse of the judicial process.”
Powell confirmed the conversation to the committee, whose Thursday hearing showed the bizarre theories Trump and his allies peddled in an effort to discredit the election.
“[Trump] had asked me to be a special counsel to address the election issues and to collect evidence, and he was extremely frustrated with the lack of — I would call it — law enforcement agencies that are supposed to protect the rule of law and our republic,” Powell said.
Named after the mythical octopus-like creature dramatized in the Hollywood blockbuster Clash of the Titans, the “Kraken” refers to Powell’s suite of four federal lawsuits in Michigan, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Arizona. All four of the lawsuits failed before both judges appointed by Democrats and Republicans.
In the Michigan litigation, Powell’s team submitted anonymous affidavits by a witness code named “Spyder” and a so-called intelligence expert, both later unmasked by the Washington Post in stories reporting they inflated their credentials.
On Aug. 25, 2021, the judge presiding over the case referred Powell and her co-counsel, including Lin Wood and seven other attorneys, committed a “historic and profound abuse of the judicial…
