Trump Lawyer Moves to Dismiss Defamation Lawsuit Because Only Fools Would Believe Her

Let’s take a trip down memory lane all the way back to January of this year, when Dominion Voting Systems announced that it was suing Sidney Powell for $1.3 billion dollars. Powell was one of the attorneys (along with Rudy Giuliani) that Donald Trump recruited to litigate his “Big Lie” that the presidential election had been “stolen” from him.

Fox News, Tucker Carlson, QAnon

Powell had made countless appearances in the press to peddle her allegations of corruption and rampant election fraud. She was among those who claimed that Dominion planted malicious software in their devices in order to switch hundreds of thousands of votes from Trump to Biden. This theory also stipulates provably false nonsense about the company’s software being developed in Venezuela with the help of the late Hugo Chavez, and votes being tabulated in Germany and Spain. None of that was true.

Now Powell has responded to the Dominion lawsuit with a motion to dismiss. However, the case she makes on her own behalf is hardly persuasive. In fact, She’s painting herself as a lying kook who can’t be trusted.

Powell’s motion to dismiss makes the remarkable claim about her own public statements that “No reasonable person would conclude that the statements were truly statements of fact.” She argued that “the language of the political arena … is often vituperative, abusive, and inexact.” Powell further argued that because the plaintiffs said her statements were “wild accusations” and “outlandish claims” that they were therefore not actionable.

Huh? That is precisely what makes them actionable. If they weren’t wild and outlandish what would be the cause to sue? Powell concludes her motion saying that…

“Such characterizations of the allegedly defamatory statements further support Defendant’s position that reasonable people would not accept such statements as fact, but view them only as claims that await testing by courts through the adversary process.”

In short, Powell’s entire defense rests on her assertion that only fools would believe her bullpucky and therefore she can’t be held liable for spreading it. She may be right in the former, but woefully wrong in the latter. The problem with arguing that “no reasonable person” would believe you is that it doesn’t exempt the likelihood that those devoid of reason will totally buy in. And there is an abundance of such people, particularly associated with Trump and his QAnon Cult.

Additionally, Powell is contradicting herself by saying that her statements are “claims that await testing by courts.” If so, then she is asserting that they are true and can’t be exempted as political rhetoric. But if it isn’t true, she is confessing that she is using the courts to pursue an action in bad faith, which could get her disbarred.

It’s notable that this is the same argument that Fox News used to escape liability for defamatory comments by Tucker Carlson. Fox’s lawyer’s successfully argued that, given his reputation, no reasonable person would take him seriously. It’s hard to argue with that. But you have to be pretty desperate and disreputable to adopt the Tucker Carlson Defense.

The damage done by purposefully misleading those millions of dimwits is extensive and quantifiable. Powell is practically making Dominion’s case by admitting that her statements were false. Her motion fails to absolve her of responsibility. Instead, she places the responsibility on those who heard her admittedly factless remarks. That’s like blaming the consumers of Snake Oil for not realizing that the Snake Oil salesman was a con artist. In the end, the Snake Oil salesman is going to jail.

NOTE: Twitter recently suspended the News Corpse account after 11 years without giving a reason. So if anyone wants to tweet articles from my website, please feel free to do so often and repeatedly. Also, Be sure to visit and follow News Corpse on Instagram. Thanks for your support.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Fox News Mucks Up: Falsely Says DHS Secretary Resigned During Trump Interview

The devotion that Fox News has demonstrated for Donald Trump over the years has apparently not waned in the least in the two months since his ouster from the White House. On Monday morning the former reality TV game show host made his third post-prezidunce appearance on his former propaganda network and Ministry of Disinformation.

Donald Trump, Fox News, Lies

True to form, the interview was a lovefest wherein Fox and Friends co-host Harris Faulkner prefaced every question with gushing praise while feeding Trump a prompt for his canned responses. However, on this particular occasion, no one could have anticipated the magnitude of the foul-up that was about to ensue. It went a little something like this:

Faulkner: This just happened now and I want to double check this with our producers. The DHS secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has resigned, Mr. President.
Trump: I’m not surprised. Good. That’s a big victory for our country.
Faulkner: Hold on. Let me stop. Let me stop. Let me listen to my team one more time. Forgive me … That has not happened. I apologize.
Trump: Okay, cross out that victory.

Faulkner then proceeded to her next question for Trump reiterating that he (and the notorious, ever-present, unnamed “others”) called for Mayorkas to resign and considers him incompetent. Which might be the perfect description of Faulkner’s work as a “journalist.” It is truly mind-boggling how she could have paused her show to get breaking news from her producers, but screwed it up so atrociously. And then, after being forced to make an embarrassing apology (rarely seen on Fox News), her attempt to recover included an insulting characterization of the man she just falsely dismissed.

For the record, prior to being appointed by President Biden to be Secretary of Homeland Security, Mayorkas had decades of public service in the Justice Department, Immigration Services, and as a deputy secretary at DHS. That’s the man that Trump and Fox News regard as “incompetent.”

Throughout this interview, Faulkner gave Trump opportunities to rant in his customary incoherent fashion. He played all his “greatest hits,” including his Big Lie that “We won the election as far as I’m concerned.” Then he leapt into this smorgasbord of babble:

“When China looks at ‘woke’ and see the biggest problem we have is Dr. Seuss. In the meantime they’re building factories and trying to kill us in so many different ways. They laugh at us and they think we’re so – frankly, they think our country is stupid. When they look at this – when our competitors look at what’s going on in our country, taking down the statues to great heroes and so many other things. I do it because I want to do what’s right and they are destroying our country.

First of all, Trump’s complaint that China might disapprovingly look at the U.S. and see its preoccupation with Dr. Seuss is a direct slam on Fox News, who over-hyped that non-story for days (along with Mr. Potato Head gendering, imaginary immigrant caravans, and Grammy porn) because they found Biden too “boring.”

More to the point, Trump’s self-serving observation that our international foes are laughing at our stupidity is wholly attributable to Trump himself. The world knows who “America’s Most Wanked” is, and isn’t Joe Biden, whom they know and respect. If there’s one message regarding Trump that most Americans wish they could convey to the world it’s “Forgive me, that has not happened.”

NOTE: Twitter recently suspended the News Corpse account after 11 years without giving a reason. So if anyone wants to tweet articles from my website, please feel free to do so often and repeatedly. Also, Be sure to visit and follow News Corpse on Instagram. Thanks for your support.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.