# Sidney Powell "[[Release the Kraken]]" attorney who became the most flamboyant face of [[Stop the Steal]]'s legal operation, promoting conspiracy theories so extreme that even the Trump campaign publicly distanced itself from her — before she was indicted in the Georgia RICO case and pled guilty, becoming a cooperating witness. Powell's arc from respected federal prosecutor to disbarred conspiracy promoter to plea-deal cooperator is the most complete self-destruction in the Stop the Steal cast. ## Background - **Born**: 1955, Durham, North Carolina - **Education**: UNC Chapel Hill (BA), University of Virginia School of Law (JD) - **Career**: Federal prosecutor (DOJ), private practice; represented [[Michael Flynn]] in his post-conviction legal battles - **Book**: *Licensed to Lie: Exposing Corruption in the Department of Justice* (2014) — established her anti-DOJ brand pre-Trump ## The Flynn Connection Powell first entered the MAGA orbit as [[Michael Flynn]]'s defense attorney, taking over his case in 2019 and aggressively seeking to have his guilty plea for lying to the FBI overturned. She framed Flynn's prosecution as a Deep State conspiracy, earning her hero status in [[QAnon]] circles (Flynn was a QAnon-adjacent figure). This established her brand: crusading anti-Deep State attorney willing to make extreme claims. ## The Kraken After the 2020 election, Powell became the most extreme voice on Trump's informal legal team: | Claim | Reality | |-------|---------| | Dominion voting machines were created in Venezuela to rig elections for [[Hugo Chávez]] | Chávez died in 2013; Dominion is a Canadian company; zero evidence | | A secret algorithm switched millions of votes from Trump to Biden | No evidence; hand recounts confirmed machine accuracy | | Chinese, Iranian, and Serbian actors hacked election systems via satellites | No evidence; a fever dream of international conspiracy | | Massive evidence would be revealed ("Release the Kraken!") | No evidence was ever produced that survived legal scrutiny | Powell's claims were so outlandish that the Trump campaign formally severed ties with her in November 2020 — a remarkable threshold given Trump's own tolerance for conspiracy theories. But her claims continued to circulate through [[Newsmax]], [[One America News Network]], and QAnon channels. **The Dominion defamation**: Dominion Voting Systems sued Powell for $1.3B in defamation. Her defense: no reasonable person would have believed her claims were statements of fact. This is the "Release the Kraken" attorney arguing in court that her own claims were inherently unbelievable. ## Coffee County, Georgia Powell's most consequential act wasn't her media conspiracy theories — it was allegedly funding and directing the breach of election equipment in Coffee County, Georgia, in January 2021. Operatives connected to Powell gained unauthorized access to Dominion voting equipment, copied election data and software, and provided it to "investigators" seeking to prove fraud. This was an actual crime — not rhetoric but physical unauthorized access to election infrastructure. ## The Georgia Plea On **October 19, 2023**, Powell pled guilty in the Fulton County RICO case to six misdemeanor counts of conspiracy to intentionally interfere with the performance of election duties. She was sentenced to: - 6 years probation - $6,000 fine + $2,700 restitution - Cooperation with prosecutors as a witness - Written apology to Georgia The plea deal made Powell a cooperating witness against Trump and the remaining co-defendants — meaning the "Kraken" lawyer became a prosecution asset. ## The Arizona review Powell's 501(c)(4), [[Defending the Republic]], gave $550,000 to the [[2021 Maricopa County Presidential Ballot Audit]]. A document obtained by the Arizona Mirror showed it had also hired [[Wake Technology Services]], the firm that ran the Arizona hand count, for an earlier review in Fulton County, Pennsylvania. See [[Cyber Ninjas]] for the funder table. ## See Also - [[2021 Maricopa County Presidential Ballot Audit]] - [[Stop the Steal]] - [[Rudy Giuliani]] - [[John Eastman]] - [[Michael Flynn]] - [[January 6 Capitol Attack]]