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The Kraken Is Dead: Sidney Powell's Final Lawsuit Just Got Dismissed

A federal judge in Wisconsin threw the case out in a scalding ruling.
Attorney Sidney Powell, a former member of President Donald Trump's legal team, speaks during a rally on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020, in Alpharetta, Ga.
Attorney Sidney Powell, a former member of President Donald Trump's legal team, speaks during a rally on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020, in Alpharetta, Ga.
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In Norse mythology, the Kraken is a fierce sea monster that looks like a giant squid. But in MAGA world, the Kraken turned out to be little more than a damp squib.

In a series of lawsuits filed by former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell she promised to “release the Kraken” by making explosive claims about widespread voter fraud in four states. 

But on Wednesday night, Powell’s Kraken was finally slain: a judge in Wisconsin dismissed the fourth and final lawsuit, noting that it is voters, not judges, who decide who goes to the White House.

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Federal judges do not appoint the president in this country,” U.S. District Judge Pamela Pepper wrote in a 45-page ruling.

“One wonders why the plaintiffs came to federal court and asked a federal judge to do so. After a week of sometimes odd and often harried litigation, the court is no closer to answering the ‘why.’ But this federal court has no authority or jurisdiction to grant the relief the remaining plaintiff seeks.”

Just like her colleagues in Michigan, Georgia, and Arizona before her, Pepper was faced with a lawsuit that was littered with baseless allegations and conspiracy theories, as well as typos and factual inaccuracies — which the judge was only too happy to point out.

In a footnote to the judgment, Pepper pointed out that Powell had sought 48 hours’ worth of surveillance footage from the TCF Center — which is in Michigan, not Wisconsin.

She also pointed out that Powell misspelled the name of her lead plaintiff, referring to  William Feehan, a would-be Trump elector, as “Meehan.”

Finally, the judge highlighted the fact that the plaintiff appeared to have made up a quote purporting to come from a decision made by Pepper’s own colleague Judge J.P. Stadtmueller. The quote simply doesn’t exist.

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“The plaintiff asserts that these words appear on page 4 of the Swaffer decision: ‘even though the election has passed, the meeting of electors obviously has not, so plaintiff’s claim here is hardly moot.’ The court has read page 4 of Swaffer three times and cannot find these words,” the ruling read.

Just hours before Pepper handed down her decision, a federal judge in Arizona dismissed another of Powell’s Kraken lawsuits.

“Not only have Plaintiffs failed to provide the Court with factual support for their extraordinary claims, but they have wholly failed to establish that they have standing for the Court to consider them,” U.S. District Judge Diane Joyce Humetewa said.

“Allegations that find favor in the public sphere of gossip and innuendo cannot be a substitute for earnest pleadings and procedure in federal court. They most certainly cannot be the basis for upending Arizona’s 2020 General Election.”

Powell was originally part of Trump’s “elite strike force,” a team of lawyers who have spent the last four weeks filing dozens of spurious lawsuits on behalf of the president across the country. So far, the team has had just a single minor victory, while 55 lawsuits have been dismissed.

Powell was removed from the tea after an unhinged press conference where she repeated multiple QAnon conspiracy theories. The Trump campaign has distanced itself from another lawyer, Lin Wood, after he urged Georgia voters not to vote in the Senate run-off election. Meanwhile the remaining members of the “elite strike force” — Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis — have both contracted the coronavirus.

With the Kraken slain, how did Powell react? By posting a meme of her client, the recently-pardoned former national security adviser Michael Flynn engaging in a gun battle with George Soros, of course.