by The President’s legal team was thrown into tumult on Sunday (Monday AEDT) when two Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis released a statement abruptly distancing the campaign from a third lawyer, Sidney Powell.
Mr Giuliani, Ms Ellis and Ms Powell appeared together at a news conference on Thursday, when they made a range of baseless accusations about the integrity of the election.
Ms Powell in particular has been vocal in lobbing some of the most convoluted claims, alleging a conspiracy that involved “communist money”, the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez and an algorithm favouring Democrats.
At the beginning of Thursday’s news conference, Mr Giuliani said he, Ms Ellis, Ms Powell and other lawyers present were “representing President Trump and we’re representing the Trump campaign”. Ms Ellis introduced the group as “an elite strike force team that is working on behalf of the President and the campaign to make sure that our constitution is protected”.
But on Sunday, Mr Guiliani and Ms Ellis distanced themselves from Ms Powell.
“Sidney Powell is practising law on her own,” Mr Giuliani and Ms Ellis said in their statement. “She is not a member of the Trump legal team. She is also not a lawyer for the President in his personal capacity.”
Two advisers to Mr Trump, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said several allies had reached out to say she had gone too far and Mr Trump believed she was causing more harm than help.
“She was too crazy even for the President,” a campaign official said.
Washington Post
