Trump lawyers face penalties for ‘stunning’ bid to overturn election, judge says

The so-called ‘Kraken’ lawsuit in Michigan to overturn the 2020 election result was a ‘profound abuse of the judicial process,’ according to the ruling

Nine pro-Trump lawyers who participated in a Michigan lawsuit to overturn the 2020 election results will face financial penalties and could even be disbarred, a federal judge has ruled.

“This lawsuit represents a historic and profound abuse of the judicial process,” US District Judge Linda Parker wrote in a blistering opinion on Wednesday. “It is one thing to take on the charge of vindicating rights associated with an allegedly fraudulent election. It is another to take on the charge of deceiving a federal court and the American people into believing that rights were infringed, without regard to whether any laws or rights were in fact violated. This is what happened here.”

In November, a group of nine attorneys, including vocal Trump supporters like Sidney Powell and L Lin Wood, asked the court in a lawsuit they dubbed “The Kraken” to decertify the election results and impound the state’s voting machines on behalf of six Republican voters.

The following month, Judge Parker rejected the original suit, writing that overturning Joe Biden’s win in Michigan would mean flouting the “orderly statutory scheme established to challenge elections and to ignore the will of millions of voters.”

Following the decision, both Michigan and the city of Detroit petitioned the court for sanctions against the Trump attorneys, with the state asking for at least $11,000 in its legal fees to be reimbursed.

Wednesday’s decision mandates 12 hours of legal education for each of the lawyers involved in the Kraken suit, including six hours dedicated to election law.

The decision will also be sent to the states where each of the lawyers are licensed to practise, for potential disciplinary action, and the state and city will soon be submitting estimates to the court for reimbursement.“I reject the mantra that we did this as a publicity stunt. We did not,” Howard Kleinhendler, another of the attorneys named in the suit, said in court last month.

Ms Powell, during the same hearing, said she took “full responsibility” for the suit, and compared it to the landmark 1954 civil rights case Brown vs. Board of Education which ended racial segregation in public schools.

“It is the duty of lawyers and the highest tradition of the practice of law to raise difficult and even unpopular issues,” she said.

Mr Wood has said that he wasn’t actually involved in the suit, though his name was listed on it.

The penalties mark the largest punishment yet against Donald Trump’s allies for the numerous lawsuits they filed around the country alleging election fraud, virtually all of which were struck down.

Former Trump attorney and adviser Rudy Giuliani had his New York law license suspended for making false statements during his attempts to challenge the election results.