Sidney Powell said her secret witness who can prove the election was stolen from President Trump was a former military intelligence official in court filings, but that’s apparently inaccurate.
Powell, a former federal prosecutor, has told the courts she wants to seal “Spider’s” identity (sometimes referred to as “Spyder”), whom she said was an electronic intelligence analyst for the Arizona-based 305th Military Intelligence Battalion. “Spider,” however, never completed the entry-level training course, said Meredith Mingledorff, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence, the Washington Post reported.
Even with her request to hide her witness’s name, one of her filings showed “Spyder’s” legal name to be Joshua Merritt, and he’s a 43-year-old information technology consultant in Texas.
Merritt confirmed his work with Powell and maintained that he did graduate from the intelligence training program, even though Mingledorff said, “He kept washing out of courses” and that “he’s not an intelligence analyst.”
By his own account, he was a trainee in the program for less than a year over 15 years ago. He also said that Powell’s characterization of him as a military intelligence officer is misleading because he was a student at the time.
“That was one thing I was trying to backtrack on,” Merritt said. “My original paperwork that I sent in didn’t say that.”
He also said that he had not read the filing carefully before signing the document and explained that he has decided to step away from the legal effort because his name has been publicized.
Merritt enlisted in the Army in 2003, and he was honorably discharged 10 years later following deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. He spent most of that time as a wheeled vehicle mechanic.
Merritt’s affidavit used by Powell’s lawsuits in multiple states, including Arizona, Michigan, and Wisconsin, alleges that “Dominion Voting system and software are accessible — and was compromised by rogue actors, including foreign interference by Iran and China,” even though Spider does not say he has personally analyzed their machines, according to Business Insider. All of her lawsuits, referred to as Kraken lawsuits named after the mythical sea creature, have been rejected in state court, and she’s appealing those decisions.
To date, Powell’s legal challenges have been unsuccessful, and Dominion Voting Systems has vociferously denied being involved in a vote-switching sham, pointing to a joint statement released by President Trump’s Department of Homeland Security that asserted the 2020 election was “the most secure in American history,” adding, “There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.”
Despite appearing alongside Trump’s campaign at times, they have sought to distance themselves from Powell and her claims, which include detailed conspiracies with ties to former Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, George Soros, and Republican officials taking bribes. Even with Powell and the campaign’s best efforts, President-elect Joe Biden will be inaugurated on Jan. 20 after he received 306 Electoral College votes, which are set to be finalized on Monday.
