The election conspiracy theorist struck a deal that allows her to avoid prison by testifying for the prosecution.
After the 2020 presidential election, Sidney Powell tirelessly promoted a baroque conspiracy theory claiming that Donald Trump had been deprived of his rightful victory by a combination of deliberately corrupted voting machines and phony ballot dumps. At first, Powell explicitly did that on behalf of the Trump campaign, joining the « elite strike force team » of lawyers who were determined to reverse Joe Biden’s victory. She also pressed her outlandish and unsubstantiated fraud claims in numerous TV appearances and in lawsuits she filed on behalf of aggrieved Republicans. And even after the Trump campaign disassociated itself from Powell on November 22, 2020, the president and representatives such as Rudy Giuliani continued to tell the same basic story.
The fruitless attempts to validate that story included a bizarre incident in which employees of SullivanStrickler, a forensic data firm hired by Powell, copied election software and ballot records at the Board of Elections and Registration Office in Coffee County, Georgia, on January 7, 2021, the day after Trump supporters enraged by his stolen-election fantasy rioted at the U.S. Capitol. That freelance investigation was the basis for the state criminal charges to which Powell pleaded guilty on Thursday, the day before her election-related racketeering trial was scheduled to begin.
Under her plea agreement, Powell will avoid any time behind bars and, if she successfully completes six years of probation, a criminal record. What did Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis get in exchange? It’s a question that should worry Trump, the lead defendant in the Georgia case.
Powell originally was charged with violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act by participating in an « enterprise » that illegally sought to keep Trump in power. That offense is punishable by five to 20 years in prison. Powell also faced six other felony charges based on the Coffee County incident: two counts of conspiracy to commit election fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit computer theft, one count of conspiracy to commit computer trespass, one count of conspiracy to commit computer invasion of privacy, and one count of conspiracy to defraud the state. She avoided the possibility of years in prison by instead pleading guilty to six misdemeanor counts of intentionally interfering with public officials’ election duties.
As part of that deal, Powell agreed to testify in the racketeering case. « Assuming truthful testimony in the Fulton County case, » Trump lawyer Steve Sadow said on Thursday, « it will be favorable to my overall defense strategy. » That seems doubtful, since Willis would not have given Powell a get-out-of-jail card unless she thought her testimony would bolster the prosecution’s evidence.
What does Powell know that could hurt Trump’s defense? She was not directly involved in the actions that the Georgia indictment cites as the basis for 12 of the 13 charges against Trump.
