Federal prosecutors are clearly curious about whether fundraising groups like Defending the Republic, founded by former Trump attorney Sidney Powell, were really dedicated to defending the republic in the aftermath of the 2020 election.
In September, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia issued a grand jury subpoena seeking communications and financial records related to the fundraising groups Powell founded after the 2020 election, according to The Washington Post. Prosecutors have sought documents dating back to Nov. 1, 2020 from those groups, including the Texas-based organization Defending the Republic.
The inquiry has become part of a hub of criminal probes related to Donald Trump and his post-2020 fraud claims being looking into by Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Molly Gaston. Gaston is spearheading investigations into the Jan. 6 Capitol attack while also handling the House of Representatives' criminal contempt referral on Trump ally Steve Bannon.
Powell, who infamously pledged to "release the Kraken" following Trump’s loss, became a prolific spinner of 2020 conspiracy theories perpetuating the baseless claim that the election was stolen from Trump.
But as Trump cultists clung to her myriad wild claims, Powell was also asking them to open their wallets. On Nov. 10, for instance, Powell went on Fox Business' Lou Dobbs Tonight show where she peddled her website, defendingtherepublic.org, as a place where Trump supporters could help fund her effort to overturn the election.
“Over $500,000 must be raised in the next twenty-four hours for these suits to be filed. Millions more will need to be raised to ensure victory,” read the site, according to an archived version dug up by the Post.
By late November, the website sought donations for “Sidney Powell’s Legal Defense Fund” with checks payable to Powell’s law firm, Sidney Powell P.C.
However, the group wasn't incorporated as a business until Dec. 1, 2020, and a representative of the organization claimed during a deposition in another legal matter to have no knowledge of where the funds raised prior to December were directed.
“I don’t know where they went, but they did not go to Defending the Republic,” Brad Johnson said in the August deposition.
Even post-December, it's unclear exactly how much the group raised and where those funds were directed. Johnson also indicated that the organization's directors at one point included Michael Flynn, Flynn’s brother Joseph Flynn, and Patrick Byrne, the millionaire founder of Overstock.com.
Powell was also listed as a director in corporate documents filed in December 2020, and Johnson testified that the Flynn brothers and Byrne have since departed the group.
Defending the Republic has also been named in a defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems against Powell and her law firm in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
An attorney for Defending the Republic told the Post, “We have always known the more effective we are, the more the false attacks will intensify. Defending the Republic has and will continue to fight for #WeThePeople who make this country work.”
Powell has already been sanctioned by a federal judge in Michigan, who blasted Team Kraken for committing a "historic and profound abuse of the judicial process.”
But the legal system likely isn’t done with Powell yet.
In September, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia issued a grand jury subpoena seeking communications and financial records related to the fundraising groups Powell founded after the 2020 election, according to The Washington Post. Prosecutors have sought documents dating back to Nov. 1, 2020 from those groups, including the Texas-based organization Defending the Republic.
The inquiry has become part of a hub of criminal probes related to Donald Trump and his post-2020 fraud claims being looking into by Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Molly Gaston. Gaston is spearheading investigations into the Jan. 6 Capitol attack while also handling the House of Representatives' criminal contempt referral on Trump ally Steve Bannon.
Powell, who infamously pledged to "release the Kraken" following Trump’s loss, became a prolific spinner of 2020 conspiracy theories perpetuating the baseless claim that the election was stolen from Trump.
But as Trump cultists clung to her myriad wild claims, Powell was also asking them to open their wallets. On Nov. 10, for instance, Powell went on Fox Business' Lou Dobbs Tonight show where she peddled her website, defendingtherepublic.org, as a place where Trump supporters could help fund her effort to overturn the election.
“Over $500,000 must be raised in the next twenty-four hours for these suits to be filed. Millions more will need to be raised to ensure victory,” read the site, according to an archived version dug up by the Post.
By late November, the website sought donations for “Sidney Powell’s Legal Defense Fund” with checks payable to Powell’s law firm, Sidney Powell P.C.
However, the group wasn't incorporated as a business until Dec. 1, 2020, and a representative of the organization claimed during a deposition in another legal matter to have no knowledge of where the funds raised prior to December were directed.
“I don’t know where they went, but they did not go to Defending the Republic,” Brad Johnson said in the August deposition.
Even post-December, it's unclear exactly how much the group raised and where those funds were directed. Johnson also indicated that the organization's directors at one point included Michael Flynn, Flynn’s brother Joseph Flynn, and Patrick Byrne, the millionaire founder of Overstock.com.
Powell was also listed as a director in corporate documents filed in December 2020, and Johnson testified that the Flynn brothers and Byrne have since departed the group.
Defending the Republic has also been named in a defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems against Powell and her law firm in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
An attorney for Defending the Republic told the Post, “We have always known the more effective we are, the more the false attacks will intensify. Defending the Republic has and will continue to fight for #WeThePeople who make this country work.”
Powell has already been sanctioned by a federal judge in Michigan, who blasted Team Kraken for committing a "historic and profound abuse of the judicial process.”
But the legal system likely isn’t done with Powell yet.