SIDNEY POWELL’S TURNAROUND RATTLES TRUMP LOYALISTS
Sidney Powell, the former legal adviser to Donald Trump who famously vowed to “release the Kraken” and overturn the 2020 election results, has taken an unexpected turn. This development has sparked delight in certain circles. The New York Times salivated at the news, while The Washington Post sensationalized Powell’s transformation from Trump’s formidable ally to perceived threat. However, much like Powell, these publications are always hyping up the arrival of a Kraken that never materializes. They hope that Powell’s testimony will deal a fatal blow to both Trump and his embattled attorney Rudy Giuliani. Yet, those who paid attention to Giuliani’s testimony to Nancy Pelosi’s Jan. 6 House committee and his closed-door meeting with special counsel Jack Smith know that Powell never had the support of either Trump or Giuliani. In fact, they fired her three times, considering her to be a quack.
Democratic prosecutors have targeted Powell, 68, as their secret weapon to convict Trump for election interference. She is listed as one of the unindicted co-conspirators in a federal indictment against Trump. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is deranged with an obsession for Trump, charged her in August in Georgia, along with Trump and 17 others, with conspiring to unlawfully change the election outcome in favor of Trump.
The Mighty Power of the Plea Deal
But miraculously, all seven felony conspiracy charges against Powell vanished last Thursday when she pleaded guilty to misdemeanors in a plea deal. As a result, she will not face jail time, but she must pay a modest fine and issue an apology to Georgia voters. In exchange, she agreed to testify against Trump. The Washington Post triumphantly describes Powell as the “government’s most prominent known asset in its quest to convict Trump,” and now potentially dangerous to the president she once supported. The newspaper also quotes an anonymous source claiming that Powell turned against Trump after he refused to appoint her special counsel and order the military to seize voting machines. The source asserts, “She was disgusted with his unwillingness to take action.” However, the truth is that even shortly after the 2020 election, Giuliani, Trump’s attorney at the time, realized that Powell had no evidence to support her outlandish claims. She asserted, among other things, that Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez had hacked voting machines to rig the election in favor of Joe Biden. On November 13, 2020, just 10 days after the election, Powell teased that she would “release the Kraken.” However, a week later, Giuliani had grown so frustrated with her baseless theories that he issued a statement clarifying that she did not represent the president. According to Giuliani’s testimony to the Jan. 6 committee, Powell was never really a member of their team. Yet, somehow, she managed to find her way into the White House on December 18, 2020, sneaking in with the help of a junior staffer. Giuliani recalled that while Powell and her associates were in the Roosevelt Room, engaged in a stormy meeting with White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and others over their harebrained schemes to overturn the election, he was dining at a restaurant in Georgetown. Trump called him and asked him to come over immediately. When Giuliani arrived, the warring parties had separated into different rooms. Giuliani testified, “The Powell group wanted the president to sign a document that would allow seizure of the machines… And then they started really, really fighting, you know, yelling and screaming… Sidney said that she had affidavits… that showed foreign involvement in the election that, therefore, would justify the use of the military.” But Giuliani informed Trump that Powell was unreliable, often making allegations without providing any supporting evidence. He explained that their team would have to defend her claims, only to find out that they were exaggerated or false. Giuliani expressly told Powell not to appear on television without briefing him first, but she ignored his instructions. Giuliani called Powell’s time on their team a “terrible experience.” Giuliani entered the Cabinet Room alone to assess the evidence she presented. He spent 45 minutes reviewing 12 affidavits that Powell claimed justified using the military to seize voting machines. It didn’t take long for Giuliani to realize they were a joke. Powell had essentially repeated one dubious source in 12 different ways. Giuliani informed Trump that the evidence was inadequate and that the military could not be justified. Trump agreed, and they all went upstairs for a drink to calm things down. However, another fight broke out, and Trump finally had enough. He called Giuliani over and said, “Throw them out and I don’t want them back here again.” According to Giuliani, Powell, Flynn, and Byrne attempted to return two or three times, but the White House had already made it clear that they were not welcome. Whatever Powell has to say in her testimony will only prove her delusion in the aftermath of the election. Trump and Giuliani never bought into her wild theories. There is no excuse for Powell’s gullibility, but it wouldn’t be surprising if she had been manipulated by anti-Trumpers in a crude psy-op that exceeded their wildest expectations. Everyone should take a lesson from this story and maintain their New York cynicism, which both Trump and Giuliani exemplify.
PAY TO PLAY: JAMES BIDEN AND HIS $200,000 CHECK
In other news, James Biden, the younger brother of President Joe Biden, wrote a personal check for $200,000 on the same day in 2018 that Americore Holdings, LLC wired him the same amount. This transaction occurred after James Biden promised to leverage his political connections in the Middle East to secure funding for the company. It’s being treated as no big deal. Similarly, when Joe Biden purchased his Rehoboth Beach house for $2.75 million in 2017, just weeks after his son Hunter demanded $10 million from his Chinese business partner via WhatsApp while claiming to be physically present with his father in Delaware, it was brushed off as inconsequential. However, the House Oversight Committee Chair, James Comer, recognizes the importance of these revelations in the Biden family’s finances. Despite GOP dysfunction, Comer is determined to continue his investigation. Kudos to him.
THE BOTS ARE TAKING OVER TWITTER
An Australian cybersecurity firm, Internet 2.0, has shed light on the overwhelming presence of bots on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. It turns out that Elon Musk was correct: bots outnumber humans on the platform by as much as 4:1. The Fifth Column program, an artificial intelligence tool, analyzed 781,000 accounts and discovered that over 79% of them were potentially bots, with many being paid for by individuals or groups to spread falsehoods. This serves as a reminder to be cautious about who you trust online.
