To Donald Trump, the truth is whatever he decides it is. In the wake of Sidney Powell‘s plea deal and despite claiming that she had joined his legal team in 2020, the former president is now alleging she was “never” his attorney.
“Despite the Fake News reports to the contrary… MS. POWELL WAS NOT MY ATTORNEY, AND NEVER WAS. In fact, she would have been conflicted,” Trump posted to Truth Social on Sunday morning.
Trump also said that Powell “was one of millions and millions of people who thought, and in ever increasing numbers still think, correctly, that the 2020 Presidential Election was RIGGED & STOLLEN [sic], AND OUR COUNTRY IS BEING ABSOLUTELY DESTROYED BECAUSE OF IT!!!” (The election was decidedly not stolen and was, in fact, “the most secure in American history.”)
Contrary to what he claims now, in 2020 Trump sent out a tweet stating that Powell was a member of “a truly great team, added to our other wonderful lawyers and representatives.” Powell was listed by name alongside two of Trump’s other attorneys, Rudy Guiliani and Jenna Ellis.
Powell would go on to spearhead many of the nonsensical efforts in court to overturn the free and fair 2020 election. According to CNN, Powell was “briefly an official member” of Trump’s legal team in 2020 before she was removed by the Trump campaign, which said that she was “practicing law on her own.”
Powell pled guilty to election interference charges in Fulton County, Georgia, last week and agreed to testify against other defendants in the case — including Trump. The plea has prompted questions about her potential testimony in another pending case against Trump in Washington, D.C., where she is named as an unindicted co-conspirator.
“[Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis and her team] managed to break the woman who was never supposed to be breakable,” a source with knowledge of the matter and who has known Trump and Powell for years told Rolling Stone last week.
Powell pled to misdemeanor charges — after initially pleading not guilty in August — and was sentenced to probation. Her avoidance of jail is notable and may signal that she has valuable information for the prosecution.
“You don’t give a no-jail plea deal unless that person’s got something very good to say that will help your case against the others,” Chris Christie, a former federal prosecutor and 2024 GOP hopeful, told The New York Times.