The consequences of supporting President Donald Trump when he cried foul over his loss in the 2020 election are still being felt by several high-profile attorneys with Georgia ties.
Disbarment, imprisonment and legal sanctions are among the penalties doled out to Rudy Giuliani, McCall Calhoun, Sidney Powell and Lin Wood for their staunch support of Trump and his debunked 2020 election fraud theories.
Wood, who gave up his law license in 2023, said the attacks and investigations he has faced around the country in association with the voting fraud allegations have not lessened his support of Trump.
“At all times since 2017, I have been an unwavering public supporter of President Trump and his efforts to save America,” Wood told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I remain an unwavering supporter of President Trump to this very day.”
Like Giuliani, Trump faces criminal charges in Fulton County, where he is accused with others of trying to derail the election. The prosecution, in which Powell took a plea deal, has stalled on appeal.
Regardless of any further legal ramifications, the actions by Calhoun, Giuliani, Powell and Wood in the wake of the 2020 election are set to have a lasting effect on their lives.
McCall Calhoun
Americus criminal defense attorney McCall Calhoun spent about a year in prison for his involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. He was released from custody in July 2024 and pardoned by Trump in January 2025 but is still trying to get his law license back.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
The Georgia Supreme Court suspended Calhoun’s license in light of his criminal convictions, which have since been erased by a ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court and Trump’s widespread pardon of Jan. 6 defendants.
Calhoun, who pleaded not guilty, has said his involvement in the Capitol riot brought “widespread media defamation, death threats and harassments.” He has repeatedly said he was singled out unfairly by federal prosecutors because he is a lawyer.
Calhoun told the AJC the state Supreme Court is considering whether to approve an agreement he reached with the State Bar of Georgia to resolve the disciplinary case. He said he will receive a public reprimand and get his law license back if the court approves the deal.
In March 2025, the court remanded the matter to a special master to determine if Calhoun’s conduct should be investigated and prosecuted further under the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct.
Calhoun was among the first wave of rioters to enter the Capitol and one of more than 40 people with Georgia ties to face associated charges. He was convicted and sentenced to 18 months in prison on felony obstruction and related misdemeanor charges.
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Rudy Giuliani
Former New York City mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani was disbarred in Washington and New York, charged with felonies in Georgia and Arizona, and ordered to pay more than $148 million in damages to two Georgia poll workers after spreading false voting fraud allegations.
Giuliani pleaded not guilty to the Georgia charges, which he said were based on “completely false” allegations. The prosecution is ongoing.
In late 2023, Giuliani was found liable for defaming former Fulton County election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, who were awarded more than $148 million in damages. The verdict prompted Giuliani to file for bankruptcy and sparked fresh litigation over the distribution of his assets.
He reached a settlement with Freeman and Moss in early 2025.
Giuliani also faces criminal charges in Arizona stemming from his 2020 election theories. He pleaded not guilty in that case.
A spokesperson for Giuliani did not immediately respond to phone messages.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Sidney Powell
Texas lawyer Sidney Powell was indicted alongside Trump and Giuliani in the Georgia election subversion case and pleaded guilty in 2023 to six misdemeanor counts of conspiracy to commit intentional interference with performance of election duties.
Powell was originally charged with felony racketeering and six other felony conspiracy counts for her alleged role in breaching the voting system in rural Coffee County after the 2020 election.
As part of a plea deal with prosecutors, Powell agreed to testify in the case. She was sentenced to six years of probation and ordered to pay a $6,000 fine as well as $2,700 in restitution. Powell also wrote an apology letter to Georgians.
In a videotaped interview with Fulton County prosecutors in October 2023, Powell said she still believed the 2020 election was stolen.
Outside Georgia, Powell faced legal sanctions and was under investigation by the State Bar of Texas for lawsuits she filed in several states alleging fraud in the 2020 election. In April 2024, a Texas appeals court upheld a ruling in Powell’s favor in the bar’s disciplinary case.
Powell was also sued for defamation in January 2021 by Dominion Voting Systems, accused of publicly stating the company had rigged the election. That case is ongoing.
In Michigan, Powell and other attorneys who filed an election conspiracy lawsuit there were ordered in 2021 to pay just over $175,000 to the state and the city of Detroit.
Email and phone inquiries to Powell were not immediately answered.
Credit: Alyssa Pointer/AJC
Credit: Alyssa Pointer/AJC
Lin Wood
Former Atlanta attorney Lin Wood, who made a career representing high profile clients in defamation cases, gave up his law license in July 2023 to end a State Bar of Georgia investigation stemming in part from his allegations of election fraud in 2020.
Wood unsuccessfully sued Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and members of the Georgia State Election Board after the November 2020 election, challenging the handling of absentee ballots in his capacity as a registered voter.
“I believed that the 2020 Georgia election was unlawful because the state legislature did not approve the changes in the election rules in a federal election conducted by a state,” Wood said. “I believed then and I believe now that I was right about the law.”
Wood said he was not involved in any of the lawsuits filed across the country on Trump’s behalf regarding the 2020 election and has never been a lawyer for Trump. He said his name was added to several election-related lawsuits filed by Powell without his knowledge or permission.
Wood was among the attorneys ordered with Powell to pay just over $175,000 in the Michigan case.
“I had nothing to do with those lawsuits,” Wood said, adding he believes the country’s legal system has been corrupted.
Wood now lives in South Carolina, where he unsuccessfully challenged the chair of the state’s Republican Party in a 2021 election. He owes more than $16 million in jury verdicts and court orders to three of his former law firm partners, with whom he has been in a legal battle since 2020.
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