Post by Admin on Jul 13, 2021 0:31:01 GMT
The legal reckoning for attorneys who pushed former President Donald Trump’s spurious claims of election fraud advanced on Monday, with a federal court in Detroit holding a hearing on whether to impose sanctions over a suit filed last year seeking to decertify Joe Biden’s victory in Michigan and declare Trump the winner.
Two of the most prominent attorneys in the pro-Trump camp — Dallas-based Sidney Powell and Atlanta-based L. Lin Wood — are among the lawyers who brought the unsuccessful suit and whose conduct is under scrutiny by U.S. District Court Judge Linda Parker.
Another pair of attorneys facing possible sanctions in the case, Emily Newman and Julia Haller, served in a variety of Trump administration posts but appear to have left government late last year to aid Powell in the post-election litigation.
Parker’s tone during the hearing — which stretched to more than six hours — indicated that at least some of the lawyers involved in filing and pursuing the suit were likely to face sanctions from the court, although she did not say what kind of punishment she was mulling.
As the hearing opened Monday via videoconference, several lawyers sought to minimize their roles in the litigation. While Wood was listed as one of seven attorneys on the first iteration of the suit last November, he stressed to the judge that he wasn’t involved in preparing it.
“I played absolutely no role in the drafting of the complaint, just to be clear,” Wood told Parker. “I did not review any of the documents with respect to the complaint. My name was placed on there, but I had no involvement.”
Parker asked Wood directly whether he’d given permission for his name to be placed on the suit.
Two of the most prominent attorneys in the pro-Trump camp — Dallas-based Sidney Powell and Atlanta-based L. Lin Wood — are among the lawyers who brought the unsuccessful suit and whose conduct is under scrutiny by U.S. District Court Judge Linda Parker.
Another pair of attorneys facing possible sanctions in the case, Emily Newman and Julia Haller, served in a variety of Trump administration posts but appear to have left government late last year to aid Powell in the post-election litigation.
Parker’s tone during the hearing — which stretched to more than six hours — indicated that at least some of the lawyers involved in filing and pursuing the suit were likely to face sanctions from the court, although she did not say what kind of punishment she was mulling.
As the hearing opened Monday via videoconference, several lawyers sought to minimize their roles in the litigation. While Wood was listed as one of seven attorneys on the first iteration of the suit last November, he stressed to the judge that he wasn’t involved in preparing it.
“I played absolutely no role in the drafting of the complaint, just to be clear,” Wood told Parker. “I did not review any of the documents with respect to the complaint. My name was placed on there, but I had no involvement.”
Parker asked Wood directly whether he’d given permission for his name to be placed on the suit.