Lin Wood, one of the lawyers who filed several lawsuits alleging massive election fraud following the 2020 election, is distancing himself from one of those suits now that he is facing sanctions.
Pro-Trump attorneys Wood, Sidney Powell, Emily Newman, and Julie Haller all appeared virtually before U.S. District Court Judge Linda Parker in a Monday sanctions hearing. The sanctions case, which is being pursued by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the city of Detroit, is to determine whether to impose sanctions on the lawyers for the election lawsuit filed in Michigan.
At multiple times during the hearing, Wood argued that he was not a relevant player in the lawsuit.
“I played absolutely no role in the drafting of the complaint, just to be clear,” he told Parker. “I did not review any of the documents with respect to the complaint. My name was placed on there, but I had no involvement.”
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The judge specifically asked Wood if he had given any of the other lawyers who were working on the suit permission to put his name on the document.
“I do not specifically recall being asked about the Michigan complaint, but I had generally indicated to Sidney Powell that if she needed a quote-unquote trial lawyer, I would certainly be willing or available to help her,” he responded, noting that he had offered to help Powell but did so broadly. “Would I have objected to being included by name? I don’t believe so.”
Parker then asked Powell if she had any recollection about whether she had asked Wood if she could add his name to the lawsuit.
“I can’t imagine I would ever put his name on any pleading without understanding that he had given me permission to do that. Might there have been a misunderstanding? It’s certainly possible,” Powell said.
In December, Powell and others sued the state in a lawsuit, King v. Whitmer, asserting that widespread election fraud took place. It was denied in February after the defendants failed to present credible evidence that such irregularities occurred.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, first publicly mentioned the idea of seeking penalties against members of the Trump legal team and their allies who have made “what we believe to be an intentional misrepresentation” of facts in election-related lawsuits during a December phone briefing.
“After watching today’s hearing, it remains clear these attorneys refuse to recognize the damage they’ve done by continuing to pursue and defend this lawsuit,” Nessel said in a statement on Monday afternoon. “There is a big difference between responsibly advocating for a client and recklessly leveraging legal authority to perpetuate meritless arguments. As attorneys, we must uphold the oath we took to support the Constitution — not abuse it. I appreciate Judge Parker’s diligence in handling our motion and remain confident our request for sanctions will be granted.”
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In the months following November’s presidential election, Powell and Wood filed dozens of lawsuits, nicknamed the Kraken, alleging voter fraud and a mass conspiracy claiming that Joe Biden was not the legitimate winner. None of the lawsuits ever amounted to anything, and Powell has since been sued for promoting conspiracy theories about two election technology companies.
Biden won the state of Michigan and its 16 electoral votes by more than 154,000 votes. More than 250 countywide audits confirmed the accuracy of the certified results, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson announced in March.
