How stupid is Trump?

Donald J. Trump

@realDonaldTrump

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, AND OUR COUNTRY IS BEING ABSOLUTELY DESTROYED BECAUSE OF IT!!! Despite the Fake News reports to the contrary, and without even reaching out to ask the Trump Campaign, MS. POWELL WAS NOT MY ATTORNEY, AND NEVER WAS. In fact, she would have been conflicted. Ms. Powell did a valiant job of representing a very unfairly treated and governmentally abused General Mike Flynn, but to no avail. His prosecution, despite the facts, was ruthless. He was an innocent man, much like many other innocent people who are being persecuted by this now Fascist government of ours, and I was honored to give him a Full Pardon!
Oct 22, 2023, 9:25 AM

To Donald Trump, the truth is whatever he decides it is. In the wake of Sidney Powell‘s plea deal and despite claiming that she had joined his legal team in 2020, the former president is now alleging she was “never” his attorney.

“Despite the Fake News reports to the contrary… MS. POWELL WAS NOT MY ATTORNEY, AND NEVER WAS. In fact, she would have been conflicted,” Trump posted to Truth Social on Sunday morning.

Trump also said that 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!!!” (The election was decidedly not stolen and was, in fact, “the most secure in American history.”)

Contrary to what he claims now, in 2020 Trump sent out a tweet stating that Powell was a member of “a truly great team, added to our other wonderful lawyers and representatives.” Powell was listed by name alongside two of Trump’s other attorneys, Rudy Guiliani and Jenna Ellis.

Powell would go on to spearhead many of the nonsensical efforts in court to overturn the free and fair 2020 election. According to CNN, Powell was “briefly an official member” of Trump’s legal team in 2020 before she was removed by the Trump campaign, which said that she was “practicing law on her own.”

I look forward to Mayor Giuliani spearheading the legal effort to defend OUR RIGHT to FREE and FAIR ELECTIONS! Rudy Giuliani, Joseph diGenova, Victoria Toensing, Sidney Powell, and Jenna Ellis, a truly great team, added to our other wonderful lawyers and representatives!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2020

Powell pled guilty to election interference charges in Fulton County, Georgia, last week and agreed to testify against other defendants in the case — including Trump. The plea has prompted questions about her potential testimony in another pending case against Trump in Washington, D.C., where she is named as an unindicted co-conspirator.

“[Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis and her team] managed to break the woman who was never supposed to be breakable,” a source with knowledge of the matter and who has known Trump and Powell for years told Rolling Stone last week.

Powell pled to misdemeanor charges — after initially pleading not guilty in August — and was sentenced to probation. Her avoidance of jail is notable and may signal that she has valuable information for the prosecution.

“You don’t give a no-jail plea deal unless that person’s got something very good to say that will help your case against the others,” Chris Christie, a former federal prosecutor and 2024 GOP hopeful, told The New York Times.

Former President Trump allegedly shared sensitive information with Mar-a-Lago member Anthony Pratt on calls he had with the leaders of Iraq and Ukraine, according to audio leaked to Australian media.

Why it matters: Australian billionaire Pratt is one of 84 potential witnesses whom federal prosecutors have identified in Trump's classified documents trial, which is scheduled to begin in Florida in May. Trump denied the reports late Sunday.

• The New York Times previously reported that Republican presidential nomination front-runner Trump leaked classified information about U.S. nuclear submarines to Pratt, who is one of Australia's richest people. Trump has denied the claims.

Driving the news: Pratt described Trump's business practices of being "like the mafia," according to audio from the joint investigation by the Australian "60 Minutes," The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, which the NYT also obtained.

• "It hadn't even been on the news yet and he [Trump] said, 'So I just bombed Iraq today,'" claimed the global executive chair of Visy Industries and Pratt Industries, of one conversation in 2019, per the leaked audio.

• "'And the president of Iraq called me up and said, you just levelled my city'. And he said, 'And I said to him, OK, what are you going to do about it?'"

• Pratt allegedly described Trump in other audio excerpts as "outrageous" with a love of shocking people and knowing "exactly what to say — and what not to say — so that he avoids jail. But gets so close to it that it looks to everyone like he's breaking the law."

Of note: The audio also appears to show Pratt recounting Trump describing to him the 2019 call he had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that helped lead to his first impeachment in which Trump urged Zelensky to investigate the Biden family for unsubstantiated claims of corruption in the country.

• "Trump said, 'You know that Ukraine phone call? That was nothing compared to what I usually do'. He said, 'that Ukraine phone call, that's nothing compared to what we usually talk about,'" recounted Pratt, according to the audio.

What they're saying: Former Trump national security adviser John Bolton called the former president's reported comments on Iraq potentially dangerous due to possible operational reasons.

• "Trump doesn't have a filter between his brain and his mouth," Bolton told the Australian "60 Minutes."

• "And so the concern that he would reveal classified information to a foreigner or even an ally but a private citizen struck many people as entirely believable."

The other side: While not directly addressing the Australian media reports, Trump said in a statement to the New York Times earlier Sunday that Pratt is "from a friendly country in Australia, one of our great allies," adding: "I don't know him well but he seemed like a nice person. He built a factory in Ohio and created American jobs."

• In a Truth Social post late Sunday that did not address the Australian media reports, Trump said the NYT had not called him for comment.

• He described the NYT story "about a red haired weirdo from Australia, named Anthony Pratt" that he said was "leaked" by special counsel Jack Smith and the DOJ as "fake news."

• Trump added that he did not speak to Pratt about submarines, but they did discuss "creating jobs in Ohio and Pennsylvania, because that's what I'm all about."

• Representatives for Pratt did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.