After Jan. 6 Committee findings, Sidney Powell is trying to save her law license

The following editorial published in the Dallas Morning News on Dec. 31:

As the House Jan. 6 committee wrapped up its final report, Sidney Powell, onetime lawyer for former President Donald Trump, doubled down on her claims of election fraud in court documents filed in the State Bar of Texas' sanctions case against her.

Despite the committee's findings that Trump led a "multi-part" conspiracy to overturn the 2020 presidential election — a conspiracy she helped fuel — Powell is asking a local judge to toss out the State Bar's suit, which alleges the Dallas lawyer knowingly filed frivolous election fraud suits against the states of Michigan, Georgia, Arizona and Wisconsin.

Collin County state District Judge Andrea Bouressa is expected to decide in mid-January whether to grant Powell's motion to dismiss the case based on her claim that the State Bar has "absolutely no evidence" to seek sanctions, including possible disbarment, against her.

In reality, there is a mountain of evidence that Judge Bouressa should not dismiss the State Bar's case, and allow it to proceed to trial as planned in a public courtroom in April without further delays.

The bar sued Powell in March on the basis of 10 complaints it received about her. In addition to filing frivolous suits, the bar claims that Powell knowingly made false statements in the election fraud litigation.

In a document filed Dec. 12, Powell again defended her decision to sue the states, saying it was based in part on the documentary Kill Chain, which features a hacker named CyberZeist, who claimed to have influenced the 2016 election.

Court documents also show that among Powell's planned witnesses is a Dallas technology consultant named Joshua Merritt, Powell's once-secret source who goes by a codename "Spyder" and whose baseless claims of internationally planned voter fraud were a reason for her lawsuits.

The Jan. 6 Committee's report noted that Powell publicly made such claims just before filing her suits. Recalling a Nov. 19, 2020, press conference, the report noted her claims of "massive influence of communist money through Venezuela, Cuba and likely China in the interference with our election here in the United States."

Former Trump adviser Hope Hicks later told the committee under oath that even her boss laughed off the claims. On a call with Powell the next day, during which the attorney restated her conspiracy theory, Trump placed her on mute and smirked with others in the room, saying, "This does sound crazy, doesn't it?"

While the state bar's case is narrowly focused on whether Powell should be sanctioned for her actions, the court documents filed so far indicate the April trial is shaping up to be a mini re-do of the Jan. 6 committee's investigation.

The public deserves to see this case play out in a courtroom, and so we hope Judge Bouressa will not grant Powell's motion for summary judgment and will conduct the trial where real evidence, not made-up stories and bizarre conspiracies, can be put in plain view.