'Tremendously ill advised': Legal expert shocked by Sidney Powell's closing tantrum at sanctions hearing

Trump-backing attorney Sidney Powell on Monday refused to back down from pushing bogus conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election, and said she would file all of her election-related lawsuits over again if given the opportunity.

At the close of a Michigan sanctions hearing that also featured fellow Trump-loving lawyer Lin Wood, Powell issued a defiant defense of her past false claims about the 2020 election, including allegations that Dominion Voting Systems conspired with dead Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez to rig American elections.

"It is the duty of lawyers of the highest tradition of the practice law to raise difficult and even unpopular issues," Powell said. "The fact that there may have been adverse precedent against us does not change that fact. Were that true, there would not have been a decision called Brown v. Board of Education. We have practiced law with the highest standards. We would file the same complaints again."

Raffi Melkonian, a Houston-based partner at the law firm of Wright, Close & Barger LLP, observed on Twitter that Powell's total lack of contrition could seriously come back to bite her when it comes time for U.S. District Judge Linda Parker to potentially level sanctions against her.

"I want to note: there was not a word I heard in the hearing... where a single one of these people apologized for their conduct," he wrote. "They could have said, 'we were proceeding in good faith, but we understand it went off the rails.' That's not a good answer, but it's something you can see in the face of such a situation. You can ask for forgiveness. You can explain how you ended up in this mess."

Melkonian concluded by describing Powell's defiance as "tremendously ill advised."