Don’t jump to conclusions about the Tucker Carlson/Sidney Powell feud

The feud between Tucker Carlson and Trump attorney Sidney Powell leaves conservatives in an uncomfortable place, but it behooves us to actually look at the facts and not just take sides for personal reasons.

On the Nov. 19, 2020, episode of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Carlson accused Powell of refusing to provide evidence to back up her claim of vote fraud by Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic in the presidential election. Take a look at Carlson’s segment followed by Powell’s response.

The complaint by Carlson seemed extreme and presumptuous, especially in light of the recent trend of Trump bashing on Fox News that everyone has noticed. Why should Powell provide evidence to Carlson instead of a court? Conservatives generally took Powell’s side and argued that Carlson was just going along with his masters at Fox News.

This seems highly unlikely though — in light of Carlson’s generally spot-on conservative commentary, not to mention his willingness to call out bad actors on Fox News such as Shepard Smith and Neil Cavuto.

I think a more reasonable conclusion is that Carlson was trying to explain to his viewers why his show has put the election fraud allegations on a back burner — namely that he is skeptical of some of the evidence and doesn’t want to get burned if it turns out the Trump lawyers are exaggerating their case. If so, he could be forgiven for trying to confirm evidence before reporting it. (This would be a useful technique for CNN and the Washington Post, too, and might have prevented them from getting sued by Nick Sandmann and paying hefty settlements.)

So what might be worrisome to Carlson? Well, I have noticed a tendency by Powell and fellow attorney Rudy Giuliani to speak of Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic as though they were interchangeable. They claim that Dominion got started as a Venezuelan company and was used to help Hugo Chavez steal votes to validate his regime in Venezuela. They say they have a sworn affidavit from a former Venezuelan military man who watched Dominion being used to flip votes.

But where is the evidence? From what we can tell Dominion is a Canadian company and so far as I can tell, it has no connection to Venezuela. Is it possible that a Powell and Giuliani are simply confusing Dominion and Smartmatic, a company with proven ties to Venezuela and Chávez? I certainly hope not, as that would greatly diminish their credibility.

Powell responded to Carlson on “Mornings with Maria Bartiromo” the next day, saying that she had provided evidence of vote fraud to Carlson but that he was rude and arrogant. (Check that video out on my YouTube channel here.) What is interesting is that Powell keeps insisting that Dominion is linked to Venezuela, yet the affidavit she provided online only links Smartmatic to Venezuela, not Dominion. Is that what a Tucker’s crew noticed and why they asked for more evidence?

The Venezuelan military man who gave the sworn testimony to Powell says only that Dominion and Smartmatic have done business together at some point, and that they used similar technology, but all his evidence regarding vote fraud in Venezuela involves Smartmatic, not Dominion. One hopes that Powell did not make such a fundamental error in her recitation of the facts. So far as I know, no one has asked her that yet.

Now, it’s possible she has more affidavits than what she has shared publicly, but I’m a bit worried right now. Posted below is part of the affidavit that Powell released on Twitter. Note that No. 15 talks about how Chávez used Smartmatic to steal votes, not Dominion. Notice also that 21 and 22 talk about a vague relationship between Dominion and Smartmatic, not an ownership relationship, and no allegation that Dominion is a Venezuelan company. In No. 26, the witness says that he saw Dominion was used in the states where the count was halted and was worried about it. This needs to be explored further, but it should be clarified whether or not Smartmatic software played a role in the US election or not. Dominion and Smartmatic are not interchangeable, and Powell and Giuliani must be prepared to explain how they are related, if at all.

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