Judge orders pro-Trump election lawyers to pay $175,000 in sanctions

A federal judge on Thursday ordered a group of pro-Trump lawyers who sued to block President Biden’s 2020 electoral win in Michigan to pay $175,000 in sanctions.

The nine sanctioned attorneys, who were ordered to divide the costs equally, included Sidney Powell and Lin Wood, two of the more prominent promoters of former President Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election results being tainted by voter fraud and irregularities. 

The Thursday order is a follow up to U.S. District Judge Linda Parker’s decision in August that the attorneys would be required to pay the legal fees of the city of Detroit and state elections officials involved in the case, with the amount to be determined later. 

Parker also referred them at that time for further disciplinary action, including possible disbarment, saying their lawsuit targeting Michigan’s voting results represented “a historic and profound abuse of the judicial process.”

The pro-Trump lawsuit, filed just weeks after Election Day last year, accused public officials of illegally manipulating ballots in order to assist Biden in getting elected and sought to decertify Michigan’s vote count.

Parker ordered that payment be made to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) in the amount of roughly $22,000, with the remaining $153,000 to be paid to the city of Detroit.

Parker agreed to pause enforcement of the payments if her ruling in the sanctions case is appealed.

“I will appeal the order. I undertook no act in Michigan and I had no involvement in the Michigan lawsuit filed by Sidney Powell,” Wood said in a statement to The Hill.

Powell did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

— Updated at 10:38 p.m.