Three Democrats call for investigation into Sidney Powell to move ‘swiftly’

A trio of Democrats is calling for the investigation into pro-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell’s bar license to move “swiftly” after new reporting surfaced this week that members of former President Trump’s campaign knew the conspiracy theory it was pushing was false.

Reps. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas) and Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) penned a letter to the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel at the State Bar of Texas on Thursday requesting that it “act swiftly” in conducting investigations into Powell’s “repeated and potentially deliberate violations of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct.”

“Ms. Powell allegedly made numerous false statements to various courts related to her frivolous attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election,” the lawmakers wrote.

“We urge a swift resolution to the disciplinary investigation into Ms. Powell’s conduct and her fitness to practice law in the state of Texas,” they added.

They said Powell is “wholly unfit to practice law” and is “no longer deserving of a Texas bar license,” pointing to her actions related to the 2020 presidential election.

Specifically, the Democrats said Powell made false or misleading statements to the judiciary and pursued lawsuits in courts “as a means to subvert the Constitution.”

The letter from the lawmakers comes after Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) said in a statement last month that the Texas Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel has granted an investigatory hearing related to Powell’s bar license, which is scheduled for Nov. 4.

Powell, along with other pro-Trump lawyers, is under fire in Michigan for filing a lawsuit in the weeks after the November election that accused public officials of illegally manipulating ballots in an effort to help then-candidate Joe Biden win the election.

They also sought to decertify Michigan’s vote count.

A federal judge last month ordered sanctions against Powell, pro-Trump lawyer Lin Wood and others for their involvement in bringing legal challenges against Michigan’s election results and referred them for subsequent disciplinary action — including disbarment.

Powell and other Trump allies suffered another hit on Tuesday when The New York Times reported that the former president’s campaign was aware that the theories it was pushing related to election fraud were false.

The Times cited an internal memo from the campaign, filed in court as part of a defamation lawsuit, which said that the claims touted by Trump’s team about Dominion Voting Systems and the software company Smartmatic were false.

Trump’s legal team reportedly had that memo when it held a press conference in November during which attorneys laid out a conspiracy theory that said Dominion worked with Smartmatic, financier George Soros and Venezuela to hand Biden a victory in the presidential election — a story that was reportedly labeled as false in the internal memo.

The trio of Democrats wrote in their letter that they believe it is “unlikely” Powell did not have access to the internal memo debunking the conspiracy theory because of her role in the Trump campaign.

They said that despite the internal memo, Powell “proceeded to parade these debunked claims to the public and media in numerous press conferences for months to come” and that she “filed multiple lawsuits in courts across the country misrepresenting to the judiciary the veracity of her claims.”

“We urge you to consider this new evidence of her misrepresentations and, because Ms. Powell currently retains the ability to practice law, move swiftly in your review,” the lawmakers wrote.

“Each day that passes without an investigation undermines the public’s confidence in the legal profession as a force for good and further degrades the bar,” they added.

The lawmakers specifically cited five rules from the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct that they believe Powell violated, which revolved around offering information or evidence that is known to be false.

Powell, along with former Trump personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, are also the targets of defamation lawsuits from Dominion, each of which were filed at $1.3 billion.

Dominion is arguing that the trio claimed without evidence that Dominion rigged the 2020 presidential election in favor of Biden by manipulating votes.

A federal judge last month rejected requests from the defendants for the lawsuits to be dismissed, allowing the litigation to proceed.

The Hill reached out to Powell for comment.

Updated at 10:00 a.m.