As the Trump legal team appeared to distance itself from Sidney Powell amid reports she has failed to provide the president’s camp with evidence to substantiate bombshell voter fraud claims, Powell’s most loyal supporters are doubling down on their belief that the former federal prosecutor will expose a vast electoral conspiracy.
The press release: In a statement released by the Trump campaign on Sunday, Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney, and Jenna Ellis, a legal adviser for the president, said Powell is “not a member of the Trump legal team,” nor is she “a lawyer for the President in his personal capacity.”
- “Sidney Powell is practicing law on her own,” Giuliani and Ellis said in the statement.
- Just last Thursday, Powell appeared alongside Giuliani and Ellis at a press conference at the Republican National Convention’s headquarters in Washington, where she claimed the election had been stolen from President Donald Trump in a scheme funded by “communist money” and which involved George Soros, antifa, the Clinton Foundation and Venezuela.
- While being interviewed Saturday during an appearance on Newsmax, Powell implied Georgia’s governor and secretary of state, both Republicans, were in on the conspiracy.
“Georgia is probably going to be the first state I’m gonna blow up,” she told Newsmax hosts Rob Schmitt and Mark Halperin.
The reaction: The announcement was widely seen in the media as an acknowledgement that Powell doesn’t have the goods to support her allegations.
Even some conservative media figures who are generally supportive of the president, like The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh, viewed the statement as vindication of their skepticism about Powell’s claims.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson endured backlash from many of the president’s supporters last week when he said Powell had refused his request to provide evidence of her claims and got upset when his show continued to press for proof.
Powell has repeatedly responded to requests that she substantiate her claims by saying she is building her case and will present evidence at court.
The memes: Many of Powell’s supporters interpreted the Trump legal team’s statement differently, however, arguing that the media was making much ado about nothing and that the Trump campaign was merely clarifying its relationship to Powell for technical reasons.
The creation of memes in tribute to Powell, who is in the eyes of many of the president’s supporters a fearless patriot standing up to forces that seek to corrupt America’s most sacred institutions, continued unabated.
“Sidney Powell represents me,” tweeted one Trump supporter.
Some floated the possibility of Powell as a future presidential candidate.
Other memes characterized Powell as an “American Badass.”
One Twitter user shared a meme which depicted Powell as “Wonder Woman” alongside superhero versions of members of the Trump legal team.
Many of the memes referenced releasing the “Kraken,” a term used by some in the QAnon movement to signify the moment when treasonous forces seeking to sabotage the country will be exposed and punished.
“Take that fake news media,” said one Twitter user in a caption to an image of Powell releasing the Kraken.
Powell herself has apparently embraced the Kraken iconography.
In an image on the homepage for Powell’s legal defense fund website, she is identified simply as the “Kraken Releaser.”
Powell responded to the Trump legal team’s press release with a statement of her own, telling CBS News, “I understand today’s press release. I will continue to represent #WeThePeople who had their votes for Trump and other Republicans stolen by massive fraud through Dominion and Smartmatic, and we will be filing suit soon.”
- “The chips will fall where they may, and we will defend the foundations of this great Republic. #KrakenOnSteroids,” she added.
