Jack Smith Already Crushed Trump's Claim About Sidney Powell: Legal Analyst

Special Counsel Jack Smith preemptively destroyed former President Trump's recent claim that Sidney Powell "never" served as his lawyer, according to MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin.

Powell, who promised to "release the Kraken" of lawsuits that she claimed would prove massive fraud was to blame for Trump's presidential election loss in November 2020, took a plea deal last week in Georgia, where she had initially been accused of multiple felonies alongside the ex-president.

The former president has seemingly attempted to distance himself from Powell since the agreement was announced, claiming in a Truth Social post on Sunday that she "WAS NOT MY ATTORNEY, AND NEVER WAS," while lamenting what he called "Fake News reports to the contrary."

However, Trump himself seemingly welcomed Powell to his legal team on Twitter, now known as X, in a tweet on November 14, 2020. Trump included Powell's name alongside lawyers including Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis as part of a "great team" joining "other wonderful lawyers and representatives!"

Rubin argued in a series of posts to X on Monday that Smith's federal indictment of Trump in Washington, D.C.—where the ex-president is accused of four felonies related to 2020 election subversion and the January 6 Capitol attack that followed—had already severely undercut Trump's claim.

"As you think about Trump's insistence that Sidney Powell was never his or the campaign's lawyer, lots of folks will point to his own November 2020 tweet announcing her role," Rubin wrote. "Jack Smith, however, has one better in Paragraph 20 of his D.C. indictment."

In the indictment, Smith notes that Trump's then-assistant Molly Michael had sent Powell and others "a document containing bullet points critical of a certain voting machine company"—likely Dominion Voting Systems—alongside instructions to "include as is, or almost as is, in lawsuit."

Powell purportedly responded to the email minutes later, enthusiastically arguing that the bullet points "must go in all lawsuits" filed in Georgia and Pennsylvania, "with a fraud claim that requires the entire election to be set aside."

The "Kraken" lawyer went on to file a lawsuit November 25, 2020, claiming that there was "massive election fraud" in Georgia, which Trump publicly promoted with a retweet, despite having privately called Powell's claims "crazy," according to the indictment.

"Smith alleges Powell not only did as told, but that Trump promoted the resulting case via Tweet before it was filed," Rubin wrote, suggesting that Smith had further called into question Trump's claim that Powell never acted as his lawyer.

Newsweek reached out for comment to lawyer Christopher Kise, who is representing the former president in D.C., and Trump's office via email on Monday.

Powell and Kenneth Chesebro, former Trump lawyer accused of being the architect of the so-called "fake electors" scheme, both reached plea agreements in Georgia last week.

The total number of co-defendants who have "flipped" on the ex-president in the Peach State is three, with bail bondsman Scott Hall last month pleading guilty to lesser charges in exchange for cooperating with prosecutors.

Legal analysts and experts have predicted that the agreements could lead to serious legal trouble for Trump and an avalanche of similar moves from other co-defendants, with 15 in Georgia still facing felony charges.

There are two other co-defendants in Trump's federal documents case—the former president's aide Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago maintenance worker Carlos De Oliveira.

Trump is facing a total of 91 felony charges across four separate federal and state indictments. He had pleaded not guilty to all charges, maintaining that he is the victim of a politically motivated "witch hunt."