Sidney Powell, a former attorney for Donald Trump, has filed a lawsuit attempting to block Verizon from releasing her phone records to the House select committee investigating the January 6 protest.
The committee is seeking Powell’s phone records from November 1, 2020, to January 31, 2021.
“On January 6, 2021, a large group of protestors in Washington, D.C., entered the United States Capitol, breached security, and disrupted the counting of the Electoral College votes until order was restored,” the lawsuit states. “The United States Department of Justice has arrested and charged more than 725 individuals in connection with the events of January 6th. Ms. Powell had no involvement in the events of January 6, yet the DOJ is seeking records that contain attorney-client privileges held by numerous clients.”
Bob Holmes, the lawyer representing Powell, is arguing that the information is protected by attorney-client privilege and the work product doctrine, which permits attorneys to withhold documents that have been prepared in anticipation of litigation.
CBS 11 reports that the lawsuit, which was filed in Texas, additionally “alleges that the Committee lacks ‘any ‘valid legislative purpose’ to seek information including subscriber information, connection records, or details about phone calls. Furthermore, the suit argues, the subpoena violates the Telecommunications Act of 1996 by seeking ‘contents of a communication while in electronic storage’ without the authorization of either the subject or the law.”
Holmes argued that enforcement of the subpoena would deprive Powell of the opportunity to “review the proposed disclosure and assert applicable privileges,” which he claims violates federal and state rules concerning evidence.
Finally, the complaint also asserts that the subpoena violates Powell’s First Amendment right to freedom of association because of how broad it is in scope and because it does not “advance a sufficiently important governmental interest to permit its enforcement.”
“The lack of a valid legislative purpose, Powell’s suit claims, also means that the subpoena violates her Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures and her right to privacy,” CBS reports. “Therefore, the suit claims, because the enforcement of the subpoena would cause ‘irreparable harm’ to Powell, the court should issue a judgment holding that the subpoena is unlawful and unenforceable as well as an injunction preventing Verizon from providing Powell’s records to the Select Committee.”
The 20-page lawsuit can be read in full here.
Powell is currently facing multiple defamation lawsuits that total over $4 billion in sought relief over her election fraud claims.
“We need a take-a-number system now for people that want to sue Sidney Powell, who doesn’t have the tiniest fraction of that amount of assets,” Powell told radio host Pete Santilli in October, according to a report from Business Insider. “We could write that check and watch it bounce to infinity and beyond.”
Election technology firm Dominion filed a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit against Powell in January. Smartmatic, another company that makes ballot-counting machines, filed a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against Powell in February.
Eric Coomer, a Dominion employee, has also filed a defamation lawsuit against Powell and others.
Powell countersued Dominion in September and is seeking $10 million in damages.
