2020 Election: Judge Toasts Lawyers Over Thin Fraud Allegations In Michigan Hearing Over Possible Sanctions

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The judge repeatedly asked Monday how much work the lawyers had done to verify the fraud allegations. In response, several argued that they did not need to do so if witnesses believed what they were saying was true. Fact-finding could be carried out during the trial, argued the lawyers who filed it.

At one point, Parker, sitting in the Eastern District of Michigan, asked the nine attorneys who participated in the lawsuit if they had ever followed to find out if any of their so-called witnesses had actually seen an amended vote.

Nobody answered. “Let the record reflect,” Parker replied, noting their silence.

“There has to be a minimum belief on the part of the lawyer that these… are grounded in the facts,” Parker said. “Every lawyer has a duty” to do minimal research to verify the evidence presented in court, the judge added.

Freeing the Kraken

Dozens of lawsuits after Trump’s election defeat have prompted baseless fraud allegations, seeking to overturn Joe Biden’s victory.

The lawsuits – and in particular the Michigan case – were Trump’s first major attempt to claim that the November presidential election result was illegitimate. His team and supporters – sometimes represented by right-wing figures Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani and others – have lost all attempts in court to gain ground on voter fraud.

More than a dozen lawyers appeared at the hearing on Monday after the judge scheduled it to determine whether they had filed a frivolous case or made false statements. The possible consequences of the judge’s decision or the referral of the case for further disciplinary proceedings include the loss of the lawyers’ ability to practice law.

Lawyers, including Powell and Lin Wood, had called their efforts to free the “Kraken” after a mythical sea monster.

In court on Monday, the Kraken team argued that they had put together a “model” of statements from alleged witnesses that supported the possibility of voter fraud.

“I would say, Your Honor, it’s not fantastic,” lawyer Julia Haller told the judge, defending a witness affidavit filled with speculative sentences about a couple dropping plastic bags with the US Postal Service in Plymouth. , Michigan. The affidavit included phrases such as “it was as if” and “what could be in those bags”, and witness Matt Ciantar noted that he thought the scene “looked strange”, without providing more information.

Haller called it a “real affidavit”. “It would be what he believes to be true,” she added.

“This is pure speculation. Alright, let’s move on,” replied the judge.

Powell, one of the group’s best-known lawyers, spoke little. When speaking at length at the end of the proceedings, she said she took full responsibility for the records in the case and felt a duty to the country to pursue electoral fraud prosecutions in 2020.

Messaging vs legal work

A decision on the lawyers’ sanction is unlikely to come for at least two weeks, after the judge has given himself the round to make their case, in writing.

An attorney for the city of Detroit argued that the trial was intended only to spread lies about the election: “This trial was used to delegitimize the presidency of Joe Biden,” attorney David Fink told the court.

The city, as well as the state of Michigan, had asked the court to sanction the lawyers who brought the case.

“It was, from start to finish, an attempt to get a message across that was extrajudicial. We couldn’t find a legal basis for what they were trying to do,” Fink said earlier in the report. hearing. “What they filed” in the case “was an embarrassment to the legal profession.”

Howard Kleinhendler, who was the architect of the fraud trial alongside Powell, said he “categorically” rejected this as a publicity stunt for Trump.
The judge, during the hearing, also urged lawyers to explain why they thought a court might step in in the election weeks after the vote, instead of using the typical counting process – and why they did not dismiss the lawsuit after the vote. had been certified by the state and by Congress.

Responses have often faltered, with Kraken’s team of lawyers suggesting they believe they could have supplanted an Electoral College list headed for Congress and that they believe they have the right to challenge the election in court. .

At times, Powell, Haller and others asked the court for more opportunities to gather evidence and question the witnesses they presented in court, believing there had been fraud.

Defending them on Monday, a lawyer for the Kraken team pointed to the Bush v. Gore, the 2000 Supreme Court case that stopped the recounts, certifying George W. Bush’s victory as President, as the reason Trump supporters might try to overturn the vote count through the law courts.

Lin Wood distances himself from Kraken

During the hearing, Wood, a longtime famous lawyer who has become a right-wing personality in recent years, appeared to turn on his colleagues, distancing himself from their work when he spoke to the judge.

Wood said he was not involved and has not explicitly agreed to assist in the Michigan voter fraud trial. His name was on the lawsuit because other lawyers supporting Trump had included him, he said in court on Monday.

“I don’t specifically recall being asked about the Michigan complaint, but I generally indicated to Sidney Powell… I would be willing and available to help him,” Wood said. “My skills were apparently never needed, so I had no involvement.”

On several occasions during the hearing, Wood attempted to speak above others, including the judge, in defense.

At one point, the court reporter who was transcribing the hearing raised her voice to interrupt her, saying she couldn’t catch the words spoken in the hearing with so much discussion outside of school.

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