Giuliani distances Trump campaign from attorney Sidney Powell

(Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

published 23 November 2020

Just days after appearing alongside her during a press conference for President Trump's "elite strike force team," Rudy Giuliani is backing away from attorney Sidney Powell, saying in a statement on Sunday that she is "practicing law on her own" and "is not a member of the Trump legal team."

In a joint statement, Giuliani and Trump campaign senior legal adviser Jenna Ellis added that Powell is "also not a lawyer for the president in his personal capacity."

During the Thursday press conference, Giuliani and Powell made several outlandish claims, including that Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president who died in 2013, helped rig the election against Trump because he approved election technology that was used in some states. Giuliani told reporters during the event that Powell was a member of Trump's legal team, and Trump also tweeted on Nov. 14 that she was working for him.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox