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- On Wednesday, federal judges in Arizona and Wisconsin dismissed two sweeping lawsuits filed by pro-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell that aimed to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in both states.
- Powell’s lawsuits made the unsubstantiated claim that voting machines switched votes from President Donald Trump to President-elect Joe Biden, and sought to have the election results overturned.
- “Such a request should then be accompanied by clear and concise facts,” a federal judge in Arizona wrote. “Yet the Complaint’s allegations are sorely wanting of relevant or reliable evidence.”
- And one Wisconsin judge wrote: “Federal judges do not appoint the president in this country. One wonders why the plaintiffs came to federal court and asked a federal judge to do so.”
- Similar lawsuits in Georgia and Michigan were dismissed on Monday.
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Federal judges in Arizona and Wisconsin on Wednesday dismissed two sweeping lawsuits filed by the pro-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell, which aimed to overturn the election results in both states.
Powell’s lawsuits, which she has referred to as releasing the “Kraken,” make the unsubstantiated claim that voting machines switched votes from President Donald Trump to President-elect Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
The suits also seek to overturn the election results in those states. Arizona and Wisconsin have both certified Biden as the winner of their presidential election.
In Arizona, US District Judge Diane Humetewa called the requests of Powell’s lawsuit extraordinary, saying they would disenfranchise millions of Arizona voters.
“Such a request should then be accompanied by clear and concise facts,” she wrote. “Yet the Complaint’s allegations are sorely wanting of relevant or reliable evidence.”
And in the Wisconsin ruling, US District Judge Pamela Pepper said federal courts do not have the jurisdiction to grant what the lawsuit was seeking.
"Federal judges do not appoint the president in this country," she wrote. "One wonders why the plaintiffs came to federal court and asked a federal judge to do so."
On Monday, federal judges in Georgia and Michigan also dismissed similar lawsuits brought by Powell, saying that state, not federal, courts were the correct place to file the cases. The judges also said the plaintiffs waited too long to file and that they lacked proper standing.
US District Judge Linda Parker issued a harsh opinion in the Michigan case, saying: "This lawsuit seems to be less about achieving the relief Plaintiffs seek - as much of that relief is beyond the power of this Court - and more about the impact of their allegations on People's faith in the democratic process and their trust in our government."
Despite multiple legal challenges by Trump's legal team attempting to block the certification of results, Arizona, Wisconsin, Georgia, and Michigan have all certified their presidential election results for Biden.
The president's team, which distanced itself from Powell last month, has not won any of its lawsuits challenging the election results.