Judge Grills Trump’s Lawyers About ‘Fantastical’ Election Fraud Claims

When former President Donald Trump’s lawyers decided to bring a lawsuit against Michigan’s election results, they sought to overturn the state’s election results. But after no evidence was found of widespread voter fraud in the state, a federal judge is now considering penalizing the lawyers for offering nothing but “speculation and conjecture.”

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) and the city of Detroit have joined forces to seek punishment for those involved in bringing the lawsuit. Trump attorneys Sidney Powell and L. Lin Wood claimed in court documents that Trump votes were destroyed or switched for ones for President Joe Biden. Biden won Michigan by 2.8 percentage points.

U.S. District Judge Linda Parker is investigating whether the six Republicans who filed the lawsuit last fall asking to decertify Michigan’s election results acted in bad faith. During the hearing, Parker found out that Powell and attorney Howard Kleinhendler drafted the lawsuit calling their claims “fantastical.”

For her part, Powell said that in her 43 years of practicing law, she has never encountered a proceeding like this. Powell also criticized David Fink, the attorney for the City of Detroit, for seeking penalties against lawyers like her who raise unpopular issues.

In a court filing, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) wrote: “It was never about winning on the merits of the claims, but rather (the) purpose was to undermine the integrity of the election results and the people’s trust in the electoral process and in government.”

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) urged that Michigan receive at least $11,000 in legal fees from the lawyers who collected money from the post-election campaign.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has already been suspended from practicing law in New York and D.C. after spreading false claims that Trump won the 2020 election.