About a year ago, Sidney Powell’s bizarre legal antics in support of Donald Trump reached an extraordinary point: Rudy Giuliani, of all people, concluded that Powell had become a little too ridiculous, even for Team Trump.
First, Powell was fired for pushing conspiracy theories considered so hysterically ridiculous that the then-president’s other attorneys showed her the door. Soon after, Giuliani went so far as to say her ideas exceeded “the bounds of rationality.”
This, however, was not the low point for Powell’s career trajectory. Over the summer, a federal judge concluded that an anti-election lawsuit that Powell helped file was so patently absurd that the conduct from the lawyer and her colleagues warranted “a referral for investigation and possible suspension or disbarment.”
But as embarrassing as that must’ve been for Powell, things may yet get even worse. The Washington Post reported yesterday:
Federal prosecutors have demanded the financial records of multiple fundraising organizations launched by attorney Sidney Powell after the 2020 election as part of a criminal investigation, according to a subpoena reviewed by The Washington Post.
This reporting has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, but if it’s correct, there’s reason to believe Powell is facing difficult legal questions.
At issue is an apparent federal investigation into a collection of groups, including Defending the Republic — a 501(c)4 non-profit organization founded by Powell — and a political action committee of the same name. According to the Post’s reporting about the subpoena, Powell is accused of creating a non-profit group that solicited funds to file anti-election lawsuits, but as Rachel noted on last night’s show, federal prosecutors appear to be looking into whether she, in fact, used a lot of those donations for herself. If so, it would mean Powell allegedly defrauded her donors and potentially even defrauded the government by possibly misrepresenting the nature of the work conducted by her non-profit organization. Defending the Republic has denied any wrongdoing. Watch this space.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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