Sidney Powell, the Trump-loving lawyer who is being sued for pushing baseless conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election, led a group that raised $14 million dollars by promising to fight nonexistent voter fraud, according to an investigation by The Washington Post.
Despite the windfall, Powell’s nonprofit, Defending the Republic, was beset by in-fighting. The Post reports:
On April 9, many members of the staff and board resigned, documents show. Among those who departed after just days on the job was Chief Financial Officer Robert Weaver, who in a memo at the time wrote that he had “no way of knowing the true financial position” of Defending the Republic because some of its bank accounts were off limits even to him.
Both federal prosecutors and Congress are investigating how Defending the Republic spent their millions. According to documents reviewed by The Post, at least $550,000 went toward the Arizona recount and over $5 million went to “legal fees and unspecified awards and grants.” The outlet adds:
Matt Masterson, a former senior U.S. cybersecurity official who tracked 2020 election integrity for the Department of Homeland Security, said Powell’s fundraising success demonstrates one reason so many people continue to spread falsehoods about the 2020 election: It can bring in cash.
“Business is good and accountability is low, which means we’re just going to see continued use of this playbook,” Masterson said. “Well-meaning folks that have been told that the election was stolen are giving out money that they might not otherwise be able to give.”
Michael Pillsbury, an informal Trump adviser to Trump, told The Post that Donald Trump was enthralled with Powell and her claims that the 2020 election was stolen:
Powell’s wild claims, and the series of lawsuits she promised to file to block Joe Biden’s victory in battleground states, gave Trump a way to believe he could still win, Pillsbury said. And her perceived closeness with the president — at one point, he tweeted that she was part of a “truly great team” of his lawyers — helped to burnish Powell’s credibility with donors. (Trump’s attorneys would later say Powell was acting on her own and not as part of their team.)
After meeting with Powell at the White House in December 2020, Trump even considered appointing her as a special counsel to investigate the election, but he ultimately decided against it.
The Post outlines the rise and fall of Defending the Republic in minute detail, including internal strife that Powell was not using the money in a transparent way. Much of the cash on hand was likely used to defend Powell in various legal proceedings.
The Post adds, “Trump has not met with Powell since leaving the White House, and he complains frequently that she raised money using his name but ultimately did not make it possible for him to return to the White House.”
