A federal judge in Michigan on Thursday ordered former president Donald Trump's "Kraken" lawyers — including Sidney Powell and L. Lin Wood — to pay more than $175,000 in sanctions for filing a conspiracy theory-laden lawsuit seeking to overturn the state's 2020 election results.
"This lawsuit represents a historic and profound abuse of the judicial process," U.S. District Judge Linda V. Parker wrote when she initially approved the sanctions in August.
Parker ordered Trump's attorneys to pay legal costs incurred by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, and the city of Detroit in defending against their lawsuit, which alleged that an international cabal worked to steal the election away from the former president. Parker gave the defendants 14 days to submit their time and expense records, but Trump's attorneys later challenged the city's requested amount of $182,192.
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In her decision Thursday, Parker lowered the city's amount by roughly $29,000, to $153,285.62. Trump's lawyers did not challenge the amount of $21,964.75 submitted by Whitmer and Benson, meaning they'll have to pay a total of $175,250.37 in sanctions.
In her decision, Parker noted that many of Trump's lawyers "seek donations from the public to fund lawsuits like this one," adding that they "have the ability to pay this sanction."
In addition to Powell and Wood, the other Trump lawyers involved in the lawsuit were Howard Kleinhendler, Gregory Rohl, Stefanie Lynn Junttila, Emily Newman, Julia Z. Haller, Brandon Johnson, and Scott Hagerstrom.
The attorneys are "jointly and severally" liable for the sanctions, meaning that while each is on the hook for the full amount, the total to be paid is $175,250.37, regardless of who forks over the money.
Read Parker's full decision here.
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