Who Is Sidney Powell? The Four Most Important Things To Know About Trump’s Former Lawyer

The Georgia election fraud trial's dynamics are now set to shift after Pro-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell reversed course and pleaded guilty Thursday, agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors.

The surprise hearing came just one day before Powell's trial was set to begin in a sprawling case that charges her — alongside former President Donald Trump and 16 other co-defendants — with attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.

In light of Powell's change of course, here are four things to know about the lawyer.

Where did Powell work before joining Trump's team?

Powell began her career as an assistant federal prosecutor in Texas, where she prosecuted the case of Jimmy Chagra, a drug trafficker who was implicated in the 1979 assassination of U.S. District Judge John Wood.

She later represented executives and firms implicated in the Enron scandal, a case that found the now-disbanded Enron Corporation guilty of fraud and conspiracy related to its 2001 collapse. Powell later criticized the strategies employed by the case's prosecutors in her 2014 book "Licensed to Lie."

How did Powell get on Trump's radar?

Michael Flynn, Trump's former national security advisor, hired Powell to defend him in a case that charged him with making false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation involving conversations Flynn had with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

Flynn originally pleaded guilty in the case and agreed to cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller while using a different set of defense lawyers. But Flynn then reversed course after hiring Powell and entered a motion to withdraw his guilty plea. Following a drawn-out legal saga, Trump pardoned the national security adviser in late 2020 after losing the presidential election to Joe Biden.

Throughout this time, Powell also joined Trump surrogates in attacking Mueller and other officials involved in the investigation into allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

The case against Flynn became a rallying cry among conservatives — and Powell's various appearances on conservative radio and television shows at the time attracted the attention of Trump.

How was Powell involved with the 2020 election?

In the wake of the results of the 2020 election, Powell became an ardent proponent of conspiracy theories alleging voter fraud. Trump as president named Powell to his personal legal team tasked with challenging election results in several states and later considered naming her as a special counsel to oversee an investigation of voter fraud, a suggestion rejected by his advisors.

Powell continued to spread unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud while working on the Trump legal team, infamously vowing to "release the Kraken." Powell ultimately filed lawsuits challenging election results in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin.

What is Powell charged with in the Georgia election case?

Powell is charged with seven felony counts in Georgia, including charges of violating Georgia's RICO Act, two counts of conspiracy to commit election fraud, conspiracy to commit computer trespass and conspiracy to commit computer theft.

Powell surrendered for arrest Aug. 23 and originally entered a plea of not guilty. Powell's trial was scheduled to begin Friday after she filed a motion for a speedy trial alongside co-defendant Kenneth Chesebro.

Under Powell's new deal, the lawyer is prohibited from speaking to the media or making public statements and is required to testify for prosecutors in the trials of the remaining 17 defendants. Powell was sentenced to six years of probation and must also pay a fine of $6,000 and $2,700 in restitution.