Former President Donald Trump's indictment in Georgia this week has been accompanied by rallying cries among his supporters who have written off the allegations against him, some even suggesting the entire case could be thrown out.
Trump and 18 of his allies were indicted over their attempts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. It marks the fourth criminal indictment against the former president this year. Trump denies wrongdoing in all the cases and alleges the charges are politically motivated.
Among his allies, his former lawyer, Sidney Powell, who continues to share widely debunked claims about the 2020 election, appeared in clips on social media suggesting that shady powers behind the scenes had made seemingly murderous attempts to keep Trump out of the White House.
The Claim
A post on the conspiratorial Telegram channel Sergeant News Network, on August 17, 2023, claimed former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell alleged that a Georgian political aide was "blown up" to pressure Governor Brian Kemp from carrying out an audit into the 2020 presidential election.
The post included a video of Powell, in which she said: "What we are dealing with here is pervasive and very very dark. Pure evil.
"They are willing to kill people. Kelly Loeffler's aide was suddenly blown up in his car on the way to a rally.. He happened to be dating Governor Kemp's daughter. Governor Kemp was considering an audit at that point..."
The Telegram post added: "What do you think really happened? Is the timing of this all a coincidence or was there really a plot to stop Trump from proving the election was rigged? Does steel really melt in such a way in car accidents? I'm interested in hearing what your thoughts are."
A similar post on X (formerly Twitter) by user @Gapeach_3102, posted on August 16, 2023, viewed 324,600 times, included the same video, with the tweet: "Here's Sydney Powell alleging the Harrison Deal's death in GEORGIA was a murder in an attempt to get Kemp into submission🤔Y'all remember it? In GA we all knew it was a warning for Kemp #EvilParty."
The Facts
Powell is a well-known proponent of the false claim that widespread voter fraud ensured President Joe Biden's victory over Donald Trump.
The former Trump lawyer is still facing a lawsuit by voting machine manufacturer Dominion Voting Systems for defamation, over the fact that she said the company's equipment was used to rig the 2020 race.
Similarly to many of her previous statements, Powell's claim that a Georgia political "aide" was blown up to put pressure on Governor Brian Kemp not to audit votes from the 2020 election is also false.
The video comes from a 2021 interview on the podcast of the Truth & Liberty Coalition, a right-wing evangelical organization. Executive director Richard Harris had asked Powell why attempted Trump campaign lawsuits to reexamine 2020 election results had been rejected.
In her response, Powell referred to the death of Harrison Deal, who worked for then-Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler. Deal died in a car accident in December 2020 on a way to a campaign event that included his boss and Governor Brian Kemp.
There is no evidence to suggest that Deal's death impacted any decision-making surrounding the certification or audit of election results.
Kemp issued a statement after Deal's death, stating "words cannot express how much Harrison Deal's life, love and support meant to us."
Furthermore, a statewide audit was carried out in Georgia after the 2020 presidential race which found that the "original machine count accurately portrayed the winner of the election." This further undermines Powell's point, and the posts on X and Telegram.
In a statement on X on Tuesday, Kemp stated that the "2020 election in Georgia was not stolen."
"For nearly three years now, anyone with evidence of fraud has failed to come forward—under oath—and prove anything in a court of law," it read.
"Our elections in Georgia are secure, accessible, and fair and will continue to be as long as I am governor.
"The future of our country is at stake in 2024 and that must be our focus."
The Ruling
False.
Sidney Powell's inaccurate comment concerns the death of Harrison Deal, an aide for then-Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler. Deal was killed in a car crash in December 2020.
Deal's death did not impact the outcome or was otherwise related to investigations into the 2020 election. A statewide audit of machine-counted results in Georgia from the 2020 election confirmed that the original count accurately portrayed the winner of the election.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
