Topline
The Justice Department issued a subpoena in September to a fundraising group and political action committee run by far-right attorney Sidney Powell as part of a federal investigation, the Washington Post reports, adding to her legal woes in the wake of her failed, misinformation-fueled campaign challenging the presidential election results.
Attorney Sidney Powell leaves the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., on June 24.
Key Facts
Federal prosecutors at the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, D.C., issued a grand jury subpoena to groups including Powell’s Defending the Republic organization and a PAC with the same name, according to the Post, which said it reviewed the document and spoke with an anonymous source familiar with the probe.
The subpoena reportedly seeks records related to the groups’ fundraising and accounting, dating back to November 1, 2020.
The document request is part of an ongoing criminal investigation, the Post reports, the exact focus of which is still unclear.
Dominion Voting Systems, which is suing Powell and Defending the Republic for defamation, has previously questioned how the organization’s funds were spent between when donations were first solicited on November 10, 2020, and when it was incorporated on December 1, with organization representative Brandon Johnson saying in an August deposition for a defamation lawsuit brought against Powell by an ex-Dominion employee that he doesn’t “know where [donations made during that period] went, but they did not go to Defending the Republic.”
The Florida attorney general’s office also fined Defending the Republic $10,000 over the summer, the Post reports, after the organization was found to have violated multiple state laws, including how it was registered in Florida and for “obtaining contributions by means of deception, false pretense, misrepresentation, or false promise.”
The U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment to the Post or confirm the investigation, and the Justice Department, Defending the Republic, Powell and her attorney Howard Kleinhendler have not yet responded to requests for comment, though Kleinhendler told the Post Defending the Republic “will not be diverted from their missions by lies, innuendo and other distractions.”
Chief Critic
“We have always known the more effective we are, the more the false attacks will intensify,” an attorney for Defending the Republic told the Post in a statement. “Defending the Republic has and will continue to fight for #WeThePeople who make this country work.”
Crucial Quote
Any funds donated to Defending the Republic before it was incorporated “would have necessarily been comingled in bank accounts controlled by Sidney Powell,” Dominion Voting Systems said in a May court filing in a defamation lawsuit against Powell and Defending the Republic. “As the person holding the purse strings … Sidney Powell treated the entity’s funds as her personal funds, redirecting them to the law firm she controls and dominates, and raiding them to pay for her personal legal defense.”
Big Number
More than $7 million. That’s how much Defending the Republic received in donations during the 2021 fiscal year ending in September, according to a budget submitted to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services cited by the Post. The group donated $550,000 to the privately funded partisan audit in Maricopa County, Arizona, and has also solicited donations to fund Powell’s post-election efforts, which included failed lawsuits seeking to overturn the presidential results in four battleground states. Powell has suggested donations from the group are also being used to fund her own legal defense as she now faces consequences for her post-election efforts. The Daily Beast reported Tuesday that Powell clashed with other high-profile figures on the far right linked to the organization over allegations she made personal use of its funds, including ex-Trump advisor Michael Flynn and former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne.
Key Background
Powell was one of the primary figures on the far-right spreading baseless claims of election fraud in the aftermath of the 2020 election, a campaign for which the attorney is now facing a slew of punishments. Powell has been sued for defamation by Smartmatic and Dominion Voting Machines for making fraud claims involving the companies’ voting machines, as well as by former Dominion employee Eric Coomer. Powell has now been sanctioned in Michigan, where a federal district court ordered her and her co-counsel to pay legal fees, undergo legal education and face potential disbarment for their post-election lawsuit in the state, which the judge said was a “historic and profound abuse of the judicial process.” Powell also faces potential sanctions in Wisconsin, where Gov. Tony Evers has asked the court to force the attorney and her co-counsel to pay more than $100,000 in legal fees. The State Bar of Texas is investigating potential punishments against Powell, which could result in her disbarment or other sanctions, and an ethics complaint has been filed in Arizona against Powell and other lawyers.
Further Reading
Prosecutors demanded records of Sidney Powell’s fundraising groups as part of criminal probe (Washington Post)
Feds Are Asking Questions About Sidney Powell and Her Pro-Trump Group (Daily Beast)
Sidney Powell To Face Texas State Bar Investigation—Potentially Leading To Her Disbarment (Forbes)
