Attorneys who filed what Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel called a frivolous lawsuit in an effort to overturn the results of the presidential election are facing backlash for their failed attempt.
Both before and after the dismissal of a lawsuit filed against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Jan. 14 based on unfounded claims of election fraud, the Attorney General’s Office and attorneys who represented Detroit filed requests for U.S. District Judge Linda Parker to issue sanctions and fines against plaintiff attorneys, among them former Donald Trump lawyer Sidney Powell, who vowed to “release the Kraken.”
The “Kraken” is a term given to a monster octopus from Nordic folklore that was used by the conspiracy theory movement QAnon and others to describe a vague, multi-faceted plan to expose election fraud and reverse results of the presidential election.
Parker on Thursday set a sanction hearing for July 6 in Detroit federal court.
The attorneys facing possible discipline are: Michigan-based attorneys Stefanie Lambert Junttila, Scott Hagerstrom and Gregory J. Rohl, as well as Powell.
“It was never about winning on the merits of the claims, but rather plaintiffs’ purpose was to undermine the integrity of the election results and the people’s trust in the electoral process and in government,” attorneys for the Michigan Attorney General’s Office wrote in a Jan. 28 request for sanctions. “The filing of litigation for that purpose is clearly an abuse of the judicial process and warrants the imposition of sanctions.”
The lawsuit claimed President Joe Biden won in Michigan through manipulated ballot counts using Dominion Election Systems voting machines and fraudulent absentee ballots, among other unproven means. The Michigan Board of Canvassers certified Biden’s win on Nov. 23.
Some of the public claims made by Powell led Dominion Voting Systems to name her in a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit.
Detroit attorneys, in their request for sanctions, wrote that there is “blood” on the “hands of all who pushed this lawsuit,” referencing the violence that occurred when Trump supporters breached the U.S. Capitol and rioted on Jan. 6.
In a February filing, Juntilla called the request for sanctions “meritless” and maintained the by-then-dismissed lawsuit was not frivolous, but rather “objectively reasonable.”
“Dozens of lawsuits were filed in several states regarding similar election fraud claims,” Juntilla wrote. “The state of Texas, joined by 18 other state attorney generals, filed a complaint in the United States Supreme Court asserting that Michigan’s elections should be set aside.
“Indeed, there is massive evidence of widespread election fraud” and “thousands of citizens have come forward under penalty of perjury to provide their evidence of multiple kinds of fraud.”
Juntilla insinuated that an unfavorable court order in an unrelated election fraud case that has since been dismissed requiring Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to turn over records related to the election led the state to lash out “so fiercely” in this matter.
MLive left messages seeking comment on the upcoming hearing with each of the attorneys facing potential sanctions.
“It is every fraudulent vote that disenfranchised Michigan voters,” Powell told MLive by email when the first request for sanctions was filed in January. “Fair elections free of fraud should be the goal of every elected official in Michigan and elsewhere.
“Everyone needs to read ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’ It is the noble task of the legal profession to raise even unpopular issues to protect the republic and individual rights.”
Hagerstrom at that time said if he’s sanctioned for providing citizens access to the court system, he’ll wear it as a “badge of honor.”
“The court system is exactly the forum to settle disputes,” Hagerstrom told MLive by email in January. “A full, fair and transparent hearing with discovery to get to the bottom of so many allegations and witness accounts is exactly what would restore confidence in our system.”
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June 19, 2021 at 02:36AM
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Attorneys who sought to overturn election results in Michigan ‘Kraken’ lawsuit face sanction hearing - MLive.com
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