Dem
51
GOP
49
As part of his par-for-the-course Truth Social rampage over the weekend, Donald Trump sent this out:
Sidney Powell was one of millions and millions of people who thought, and in ever increasing numbers still think, correctly, that the 2020 Presidential Election was RIGGED & STOLLEN [sic], AND OUR COUNTRY IS BEING ABSOLUTELY DESTROYED BECAUSE OF IT!!! MS. POWELL WAS NOT MY ATTORNEY, AND NEVER WAS. In fact, she would have been conflicted...
Who knows why she would have been conflicted, or why Trump would have cared, since he has no problem with conflicts of interest among the attorneys working on his documents case. In any event, it is objectively false that Powell was not his lawyer. He announced her hiring on Twitter:
There was also a press conference where all of these attorneys were introduced as Trump's representation. She was removed from the team after a relatively short time because she proved to be looney tunes, but she was certainly Trump's lawyer.
We are struggling to understand how Trump thinks this claim is helpful to him. Our best and only guess is that by announcing that she wasn't his lawyer, he thinks he is persuading his base that anything she says, and any plea deal she reaches, has nothing to do with him, and does not reflect upon him. Perhaps that helps him politically, by some very small measure.
On the other hand, we can certainly understand how this claim is harmful to him. First, if he does not think he was ever represented by Powell, then it certainly does not say good things about his ability to recall details. Second, if he did not think Powell was his lawyer, then any claim of attorney-client privilege, even a longshot one, is dead. Third, if he did not think Powell was his lawyer, then any defense of "my lawyer told me it was OK," even a longshot one, is also dead.
Trump just keeps saying things that make defending him more and more difficult. His lawyers must be tearing their hair out. Perhaps he's so frightened and/or angry, he's lost control. Perhaps he thinks he can taint any and all jury pools. Perhaps he's all-in on the notion that the only way through his troubles is to get reelected president, and that winning in court is irrelevant. Whatever is going on, we think his ability to bend reality to his will, honed over more than half a century, is about to let him down. (Z)