Judge sanctions Sidney Powell and other Trump campaign lawyers over failed lawsuit
25 August 2021
A federal judge on Wednesday sanctioned attorneys including Sidney Powell, an ex-campaign lawyer for former President Trump who spread baseless conspiracy theories, over an unsuccessful lawsuit that attempted to overturn Michigan’s 2020 election results.
Why it matters: U.S. District Judge Linda Parker formally requested a disciplinary body to investigate whether Powell and the other pro-Trump lawyers, including Lin Wood, should be disbarred for filing the lawsuit, which she said "abused the well-established rules applicable to the litigation process by proffering claims not backed by law."
- Parker last December dropped the lawsuit that alleged widespread fraud in the state because it was based on “speculation and conjecture," according to AP.
What they're saying: "It is one thing to take on the charge of vindicating rights associated with an allegedly fraudulent election," Parker wrote in an order on Wednesday.
- "It is another to take on the charge of deceiving a federal court and the American people into believing that rights were infringed, without regard to whether any laws or rights were in fact violated. This is what happened here," she added.
- "This lawsuit should never have been filed. The State Defendants and the Intervenor-Defendants should never have had to defend it."
The big picture: Rudy Giuliani, Trump's former personal attorney, was suspended from practicing law in New York after he made false statements about the 2020 election to courts, lawmakers and the public.
- Parker required that Powell, Lin Wood and other lawyers attend classes on the ethical requirements for filing lawsuits
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.